Charities call for access to full assets left to them in legacies

Howard Lake | 7 June 2006 | News

A new coalition of charities are asking the government to help them access the hundreds of millions of pounds in assets bequeathed to them which have remained unclaimed by estate executors.

An alliance of leading charities say that they are missing out on hundreds of millions of pounds promised to them in legacies but which are still languishing in bank and share accounts because the deceased donors’ executors have not claimed them.

The charity sector receives 30% of its voluntary income from legacies. However, if an executor fails to find details of all the assets of an estate such as old bank accounts and shares, charities will miss out. This is particularly important when charities are promised a proportion of the value of an estate.

The Unclaimed Assets Charity Coalition – which includes Cancer Research UK, Barnardo’s, British Heart Foundation, Guide Dogs for the Blind, The Royal British Legion, RNIB, RNLI and the RSPCA – is calling on the Government to make a number of changes to resolve this.

The Coalition wants to see the proposed 15 year period of dormancy to five years, the adoption of a comprehensive definition of unclaimed assets (beyond dormant bank accounts), and the introduction of a mandatory obligation on financial institutions to surrender the unclaimed assets they hold to the rightful owners.

In addition the coalition is asking for the creation of a comprehensive national register of unclaimed assets to ensure that both charities and individuals have full access to information to enable to them to find the money they are owed.

Finally coalition members want to see “a full and open consultation” with the public and with the charity and voluntary sector about how remaining unclaimed assets are reinvested in society.

Gordon Crowe, Legacy Controller at The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, said: Since one in seven of all people that make a will leave money to charity, we expect the sector will be owed a considerable proportion of the total value of unclaimed assets in the UK. The changes we hope to see made in this area will have a significant impact on charity income.

The Unclaimed Assets Charity Coalition is being coordinated by Cancer Research UK’s Public Affairs team.

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.