More than £557 million lies unclaimed in forgotten bank accounts held by the Dormant Assets Scheme, while £97 million in Premium Bond prizes also remains uncollected, according to figures from Confused.com.
Between 2022 and 2025, the scheme received over £557 million from bank accounts untouched for 15 years, but only 11% (£62.7 million) was reclaimed by account owners. On average, those who tracked down a lost account recovered £1,011.
Why accounts go dormant
An account is 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. This often happens after someone moves home, switches banks, or simply forgets about a balance.
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. Reclaim Fund Ltd is legally obliged to pay back owners who come forward in full, no matter how many years have passed, and transfers around 60% of the remaining money to social and environmental causes.
Premium Bond prizes unclaimed
As of March 2025, almost 2.5 million Premium Bond prizes worth £97 million were sitting unclaimed, up 21% from £80 million in 2022. A prize is classed as unclaimed once it has gone uncashed for 18 months, but there is no deadline to claim, so prizes carry over and build up.
London holds the most unclaimed prizes of any UK region, with £14.5 million, while Northern Ireland has the least, with £1.1 million.
Why money gets forgotten
A survey of 2,000 UK adults who hold a bank account found that nearly half (46%) of those who lost track simply forgot the account existed, while 18% blame having money spread across too many apps or providers. Almost 2 in 5 (39%) respondents now use three or more separate banking or financial apps, and 5% admit they do not keep track of their savings at all.
Nearly a third (29%) of Premium Bond holders have never checked whether they have won an unclaimed prize, and 1 in 10 (10%) admit they often forget they even own them. More than 1 in 3 (35%) think banks should do more to remind customers about inactive accounts, while almost 1 in 6 (15%) assume their bank would get in touch if they had money lying forgotten.
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."
She added: "Whatever you find, it is always worth looking at your bank accounts. Forgotten money does not expire and it belongs to you, so tracking down an old account or an unclaimed prize could give your finances a real lift for very little effort. The hardest part is simply remembering to check, so make sure you set time aside for it".
Free tracing tools include mylostaccount.org.uk for bank, building society and NS&I accounts, and the NS&I prize checker for Premium Bonds. A third (33%) of people say they would put any rediscovered money straight into savings.
