More than £100m was raised from dormant accounts in 2018 to spend on good causes, according to the recent accounts of the Reclaim Fund.
The Reclaim Fund's annual report and accounts for 2018 show that as of the start of January, £620m was potentially available to be given away to good causes.
The organisation collects money from bank accounts which have seen no activity for more than 15 years.
It holds some of that money in case the owners of those accounts seek the return of the money, and passes on the rest to the National Lottery Community Fund, which in turn distributes it to good causes.
The government originally estimated that around £500m would be available from dormant accounts, but in the first seven years of operation it has already raised more than £1.2bn and released £500m already to good causes.
Last year it received a total of £115.9m, and repaid £13.9m, making another £102m available to spend on good causes, compared to £106m in the previous year.
It distributed £152.8m to the National Lottery Community Fund, compared to nothing the previous year, and has committed to transfer £71.8m.
Blueprint
Last month, the government published an independent report which called for the dormant assets scheme to be expanded.
The “blueprint” said primary legislation was necessary to expand the scheme from the “cash balance of dormant bank and building society accounts” to potentially the proceeds of sales of non-cash assets.
Mims Davies, minister for civil society, said in response that she would “consider the recommendations in detail” before setting out the next steps “in due course”.
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