The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on everyone’s lives, whether it has changed the way we work and learn, prohibited us from spending much-needed time with family or made us meticulous about personal hygiene.
Some of the worst affected however have been low-income and vulnerable families, with the latest figures estimating that more than 15 million people (23% of the population) are living in poverty in the UK alone. Whilst the government has taken some actions throughout the pandemic to support us financially such as the furlough scheme and a temporary £20 per week boost to Universal Credit, it has not prevented hundreds of thousands of families from falling below the poverty line.
This is despite the fact that there is over £50billion of assets currently lost or unclaimed in the UK.
What happens to lost assets?
Whether it’s a pension, a dormant bank account or an unclaimed estate, the assets will still belong to the owner and financial institutions spend a lot of time trying to reunite people with their lost accounts.
However, the new year has seen a major expansion to the Dormant Assets Scheme, which is aiming to boost Coronavirus recovery through unlocking an extra £800million for communities across the UK.
What is the Dormant Assets Scheme?
The scheme is led by the financial industry and backed by the government with the aim of reuniting people with the lost or dormant financial assets. Where financial institutions such as banks, building societies and pension providers cannot reconnect dormant accounts with their owners, they can choose to transfer funds into the Dormant Assets Scheme which aims to tackle rising issues including youth unemployment and problem debt.
Whilst the scheme should be celebrated for the support it offers, these businesses’ first priority will always be to reunite owners with their assets, many of whom are vulnerable customers or the same people the Dormant Assets Scheme aims to support.
How can Vestigium Services help?
We work with financial service organisations to help them trace ‘gone away’ customers or beneficiaries of deceased customers. Not only do we provide a Live Archiving Repository which periodically researches un-found gone aways against continuously updating data sources, we also offer a free service to consumers which will compare their information with the details of our clients’ lost customers.
Register today and let us help you reunite with your money or find out whether you are entitled to financial services products that belonged to your parents, grandparents, or other relatives.
