Dormant Assets Act 2022

The Dormant Assets Bill has received Royal Assent and is now law as the Dormant Assets Act 2022.

What does this mean?

Previously, the original act covered only dormant bank and building society deposits.  This scheme had already enabled over £800m to be released to support social and environmental initiatives across the UK. The money is split between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and each nation makes its own decisions on how the money is spent.  You can register to find a lost or dormant bank account at My Lost Account https://www.mylostaccount.org.uk/

In 2017 a consultation was issued on the expansion of the dormant assets scheme to include pensions, investments, and insurance.  The results of the consultation were published and now it is law.  This will now mean that dormant assets including savings plans, endowments, investment bonds, pension drawdown and deferred annuities will be available for distribution to good causes.

If you have lost trace of your investments of deceased friends and relatives, you can register to trace these with providers via the ABIs Register of Consolidation. https://www.abi.org.uk/data-and-resources/tools-and-resources/find-lost-pension/

The Dormant Account Act 2022 cannot be enforced yet as a further secondary piece of legislation is required to set a date when dormant assets can be accessed.