Reclaim Fund Ltd (RFL) runs the UK’s Dormant Assets Scheme. This voluntary initiative enables forgotten financial assets to be used for social good, while fully protecting the rights of their owners. 

By choosing to participate, businesses can protect their customers while unlocking the potential of dormant money, transforming unused funds into lasting support for communities across the UK. 

Distributed by The National Lottery Community Fund, the money helps to improve the financial resilience of charities, social enterprises, and vulnerable communities, as well as tackling issues such as homelessness and young people’s wellbeing.  

Dormant assets are funds that have remained untouched for a long time, and that firms have been unable to reunite with their owners. 

Dormancy may happen for many everyday reasons: 

• People forget about old accounts or policies 
• People move house multiple times during their lives and do not update their provider 
• Executors may be unaware of accounts or policies held by someone who has died

These assets are otherwise gathering dust on firms’ balance sheets, posing an administrative burden and losing out on the potential to do good. With our help, businesses can transform forgotten funds into social impact at scale. 

Step one – Firms try to trace and reunite customers with their money. If reasonable efforts have been unsuccessful, they can choose to transfer the dormant funds to RFL. We take on the liability for the asset, but participants retain their customers’ data and relationships.  

Step two – RFL safeguard the money. We reimburse participants for any customer reclaims and reserve a proportion to meet future reclaims and to cover stress scenarios. We expertly manage these reserves, with returns on our investments more than covering our operational costs, which means we never charge fees to our participants. RFL is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and backed by the UK Government – so firms can be confident the money is in safe hands.  

Step three – All funds that we do not need to reserve are released to The National Lottery Community Fund. Working in partnership with the Government and charitable sector, The National Lottery Community Fund distributes dormant assets funding to good causes across the UK.