Policy paper

Review of the Dormant Bank and Building Society Accounts Act 2008

The government has published a review of the Dormant Bank and Building Society Accounts Act 2008.

This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

Documents

Review of the Dormant Bank and Building Society Accounts Act 2008

Details

The Dormant Bank and Building Society Accounts Act 2008 was passed in November 2008. The Act enables banks and building societies, who opt into the scheme, to transfer the money held in dormant accounts to a central reclaim fund. The central reclaim fund is then responsible for managing money, meeting any reclaims and passing on surplus money for reinvestment in the community through the Big Lottery Fund. Under the Act, dormant money can be reclaimed at any time by those entitled to the account.

On 27 March 2014 the government published a review of the dormant account schemes as set out in the Act. As required by the legislation, the review considers how banks and building societies have transferred dormant account money to the Reclaim Fund Ltd, how much money has been transferred and how promptly. It also considers how effective those financial institutions have been in providing a mechanism for making those entitled to dormant account money aware, as well as the arrangements they have in place to return money to people, following a claim.

Updates to this page

Published 27 March 2014

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