Anyone with a bank account is being given a £1,011 warning after new figures revealed the scale of money sitting in forgotten accounts. Between 2022 and 2025, over £557 million was transferred into HM Treasury’s Dormant Assets Scheme from more than 4.4 million dormant accounts.
Many account holders are not aware they are owed anything, so the money goes unclaimed. Over the same period, account holders reclaimed £62.7 million, equivalent to only 11% of the £557 million the Scheme received, according to Confused.com.
What counts as a dormant account
The Dormant Assets Scheme is run by Reclaim Fund Ltd and covers participating UK banks, building societies and NS&I, as well as some pension and investment products more recently added to the scheme. An account is only classed as dormant once it has been left untouched for 15 years, with no deposits or withdrawals, and the provider has been unable to trace the owner.
On average, those who tracked down a lost account got back £1,011. This often happens after someone moves house, switches banks, or simply forgets about a balance left behind. The money is pooled together, and Reclaim Fund Ltd is legally obliged to pay back owners who come forward, in full, no matter how many years have passed. It holds back enough to cover this, and transfers the rest, currently around 60%, to social and environmental causes.
Unclaimed Premium Bond prizes on the rise
Confused.com said a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to Reclaim Fund Ltd and NS&I showed there is also a growing amount of unclaimed Premium Bond prizes that builds up year after year. As of March 2025, over 2.5 million prizes worth £97 million were unclaimed by users - up 21% from £80 million in 2022.
According to a new survey of 2,000 UK adults who hold a bank account, nearly a third (29%) of Premium Bond holders have never checked whether they have won an unclaimed prize. Premium Bonds are a government savings product where, instead of earning interest, holders are entered into a monthly prize draw. NS&I tries to notify every winner, but if someone has moved or changed their contact details, the good news can fail to reach them, and a prize is classed as unclaimed once it has gone uncashed for 18 months.
That doesn’t mean the prize money is lost. There is no deadline to claim a Premium Bond prize, so rather than being written off, unclaimed prizes carry over and build up year after year.
How to check for forgotten money
Tara Evans, Personal Finance Expert at Confused.com, said: “With finances stretched for so many households, it’s worth remembering that forgotten money is far more common than people realise. It’s easy to assume this money is gone for good, but it almost never is.
“Whether it’s an old savings account or a Premium Bond prize you never knew you had won, it’s probably still waiting to be claimed, and it can add up to a surprising amount. With so many of us now managing our money across multiple banks and apps, it has never been easier to lose track, so it’s well worth taking the time to check.”
People can use the free tracing service at mylostaccount.org.uk, which lets you search for lost bank, building society and NS&I accounts all in one place. People can check their Premium Bonds accounts using the App and prize checker from NS&I.
