Government to unlock £87.5 million from dormant funds for community organisations
Howard Lake | 2 June 2025 | News
The Government has published its Dormant Assets strategy, confirming that £87.5 million has been allocated to grow social investment in underserved places and communities.
The commitment of Dormant Asset funding will deliver to objectives set out in the Community Enterprise Growth Plan, which has been developed by a coalition of partners in the social investment and social enterprise sectors, with backing from business organisations, civil society and philanthropy.
Dormant assets are financial assets left untouched for long periods. Led by the financial services industry and backed by the government, the Dormant Assets Scheme aims to reunite people with these lost funds. Where this is not possible, money is transferred to the Dormant Assets Scheme to be distributed to important social and environmental initiatives
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The past decade has seen the application of dormant assets grow to benefit the social investment sector from £830 million in 2011 to more than £10 billion in 2023. The Community Enterprise Growth Plan is designed to build on this.
The new allocation will benefit “thousands of trading charities, social enterprises, co-operatives, and other community enterprises”.
It includes at least £12.5 million earmarked to support youth-focused organisations and £12 million to scale-up funding for a Black and Ethnically Minoritised-led social investment fund, Pathway Fund.
The growth plan is also designed to leverage private investment and philanthropic finance alongside dormant assets, with the target of doubling the amount generated for communities.
Access – the Foundation for Social Investment will launch a brief consultation to support the implementation of the Community Enterprise Growth Plan. This consultation will launch later this week and is expected to run for 6 weeks.
Seb Elsworth, Chief Executive of Access – The Foundation for Social Investment, said:
“Social investment has a vital role to play in supporting youth organisations to sustain and grow their impact. Through the Community Enterprise Growth Plan, and with funding from the Dormant Assets scheme, we are backing organisations that are rooted in their communities and best placed to meet the needs of young people. By investing in their work, we are helping to build more resilient organisations that deliver early childhood support, family services, community-based food programmes, preventative healthcare, mental health services, affordable housing, and job training — ultimately leading to better outcomes for children and young people.”
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves said:
“We’re turning forgotten assets into fresh opportunities by unlocking £440 million that would otherwise be sitting idle to help young people realise their potential, and ensure vulnerable families aren’t excluded from the financial products they need. Through our Plan for Change, we’re backing communities and boosting opportunities to deliver growth and put more money in people’s pockets”.
Simon Dukes, CEO of Fair for You, an affordable lender which has previously received investments from dormant assets, said:
“Dormant assets funding, provided via Fair4All Finance, has already supported Fair for You to ensure tens of thousands of children do not go hungry through our award-winning Iceland Food Club as well as enabling us to launch a new Shopping Card just last month, and to support nearly 100,000 customers to buy household essentials over the last 10 years. We are grateful that the Government continues to recognise the significant social impact of Fair for You and other responsible lenders, and to invest dormant assets in this sector.”
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About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.