Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the Dormant Bank and Building Society Acounts Act 2008, Reclaim Fund Ltd scheme, how many reclaims from the scheme there have been since it was set up; and how many have ended up in dispute and been referred to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Reclaim Fund Ltd (RFL) is legally obliged to retain a portion of the funds it receives as a result of the Dormant Assets Scheme in order to repay owners who come forward to reclaim their money. Data provided by RFL indicates that it has processed reclaims for 134,031 accounts, totalling £106m in value, up to 31 December 2020.

RFL is part of the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) scheme. However, as participating banks and building societies hold the customer relationships, RFL does not have any data on how many reclaim disputes, if any, have been referred to FOS by participating firms. RFL has had no direct referrals to FOS.