The Centre welcomes the Government’s Dormant Assets consultation response

07/03/23

The Centre for Financial Capability welcomes today’s announcement that the Government will be exploring how financial education and capability can be supported through the Dormant Assets Scheme in the future.

Today, Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer MP announced that £76million from the Dormant Assets Scheme will go to those struggling with the cost of living and acknowledged industry’s calls on the importance of better funding for financial education.

The Government writes that it will ““explore how financial education and capability can additionally be supported in the future, in line with its broad definition. While reiterating their support for the continued provision of affordable credit through the Scheme, most industry responses also called for an additional focus on financial education, literacy, and capability. A number of written responses and roundtable attendees specifically advocated for providing financial education to primary school children. They believed that early, preventative interventions would enable children to gain the key financial skills, knowledge, and confidence essential for all aspects of adult life. Furthermore, industry responses viewed existing gaps in financial knowledge and capability as one of the underlying reasons why dormant assets exist in the first place. They argued that investing in initiatives that create better informed and engaged customers will also lead to fewer customers losing touch with their assets. This supports one of the founding principles of the Scheme that reunification is its first priority.”

The Centre is delighted that the Government has explicitly mentioned that it will consider including financial education, and we are proud that reference was made to the industry roundtable we hosted in September 2022, which was attended by many financial education stakeholders, representatives of financial service firms and DCMS officials.

Stewart Perry, Director of the Centre for Financial Capability, commented:

“We welcome today’s announcement that the Government will be exploring how financial education and capability can be supported through the upcoming expansion of the Dormant Assets Scheme.

One of the key barriers to financial education provision is lack of sustainable financial support, and the Dormant Assets Scheme can provide some of the much-needed funding to provide all children with the opportunity to learn the crucial skills and knowledge to help them navigate financial decisions as they grow up.

We look forward to working with policymakers and partners on the Dormant Assets Scheme and other policy measures to ensure every young person has access to effective financial education.”

We look forward to working with policymakers and partners on the Dormant Assets Scheme and other policy measures to ensure every young person has access to effective financial education. The Government’s aim is to now publish a statement of intent this year to announce the proportions of funding this government intends to allocate to the four causes, provided the Scheme secures sufficient participation. If financial education is included as part of the wider revised definition of financial inclusion, this will present a significant opportunity for funding for the overall financial education sector.

We look forward to continuing our work to ensure financial education, particularly for primary-aged children, is included within the Dormant Assets Scheme, providing children with the crucial knowledge and tools to navigate the financial decisions they will make in later life.