On 21 February 2020, the Government launched a consultation seeking views on its proposals to expand the dormant assets scheme to include new financial assets.

The UK’s dormant assets scheme is currently narrower in its scope than other international schemes, with only bank and building society accounts included. Over the past three years, industry has been working with the government to consider how best to expand the scheme in the UK. In 2017, the Independent Commission on Dormant Assets reported to the Government on the potential to expand the scheme to include a wider range of asset classes. In 2018, the Government confirmed its support for scheme expansion and called for industry to set out its proposals on how this would happen in practice. A report from four senior industry champions was published in April 2019 making recommendations on broadening the current scheme beyond bank and building society accounts to include assets from the insurance and pensions, investment and wealth management, and securities sectors. It also concluded that primary legislation would be needed. The Government has considered these recommendations and is now launching this public consultation in order to gather a wider set of views on the proposed approach to expanding the scheme.

The deadline for comments on the consultation is 16 April 2020.