UK commits £76m of dormant assets to tackle cost of living crisis
The government has committed £76m of dormant assets to go towards tackling the cost of living crisis as it seeks to unlock over £800m for community funding over the next few years.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) confirmed today that an initial £76m will be distributed to 69,000 people under the Dormant Asset Scheme.
Dormant assets are financial products, such as bank accounts, that a customer has not used for many years.
Fair4All Finance will receive £45m to expand the reach of its no interest loans and offer more support to community finance providers. CEO Sacha Romanovitch said the funding will make “a real difference”.
A further £31m will be distributed by social investors Access and Big Society Capital to retrofit premises with cleaner, greener, and more efficient energy systems.
Stephen Muers, CEO of Big Society Capital, praised the scheme, saying “every £1 from the dormant asset scheme to-date spent on social investment has unlocked another £3 from other investors.”
DCMS also confirmed today that, in future, ‘community wealth funds’ will be eligible to receive funding under the scheme as it expands.
A community wealth fund is a pot of money distributed to communities in deprived areas and released over a long time period.
Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer told City PM that “some of the country’s most deprived areas will have access to this funding, with pots of money known as ‘community wealth funds’, to use exactly as they see best for their city, town or village.”
“Funding can renovate community or youth centres, for example and create better opportunities for future generations,” Frazer said.
Last year the government said it aimed to unlock around £738m over the next few years as it expanded the scheme to include dormant assets in new sectors such as insurance, pensions and wealth management.
The Dormant Asset Scheme has been running since 2011 and has released £892m in funding so far.
“Funding has helped house nearly 400 of Manchester’s homeless population; provided a £1.1m grant to engage over 800 young people in sport in the West Midlands; and allocated £6m worth of affordable loans in Liverpool,” Frazer noted.