About Reclaim Fund Ltd
Reclaim Fund Ltd (“RFL”) was established in 2011 as the UK’s sole reclaim fund, responsible for operating the Dormant Assets Scheme. In 2021, RFL was classified as a not-for-profit, arms length body (ALB) of His Majesty’s Treasury (HMT), backdated to its inception. HMT’s shareholding is managed by UK Government Investments (UKGI). The company operates as a separate legal entity with its own Board of Directors. You can find out more about our Board here. RFL is FCA-regulated.
RFL’s purpose is to unlock the potential of dormant assets to enhance communities and enrich lives, whilst safeguarding the rights of dormant asset holders. Participating financial institutions choose to transfer the value of lost or forgotten (known as ‘dormant’) accounts or policies to RFL. RFL holds a portion of this money to guarantee that people can reclaim their money at any time in future. It transfers the surplus to the National Lottery Community Fund for distribution to social and environmental causes across the UK. In England, the direction of spending for dormant asset funding is determined by the Secretary of State for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, with funding decisions in other nations of the UK made by the devolved administrations.
Since the Dormant Assets Scheme (‘the Scheme’) was launched in 2011, 50 banks, building societies and more recently, other financial institutions have joined the voluntary Scheme. At the end of the 2023-4 financial year, these participating firms had transferred almost £2bn to RFL, of which £982m had been made available to good causes across the UK, changing lives and transforming communities. During the year, we approved a further distribution of over £146m to TNLCF, the second largest in the Scheme’s history. You can find our Annual Report & Accounts for 2023-4 here.
It’s an exciting time for RFL. Not only are we celebrating the first £1bn to good causes this year, but we are also expanding the Scheme to new participants and asset classes, with the potential to transfer even more money to support vulnerable individuals and communities across the UK. Since the Dormant Assets Act 2022 was enacted, we have expanded the Scheme to insurance and pensions providers, and UK plcs with dormant shares and share proceeds. We are now planning to welcome investments & wealth management firms to the Scheme in the coming months. Together, these newly eligible sectors could unlock a further £880m to good causes in the coming years.