Dormant bank accounts to fund youth finance projects

The report outlines plans to use at least 25 per cent of unclaimed assets cash to establish a £100m fund that will finance organisations to teach young people and adults about financial capability.

This scheme will be administered by the Big Lottery fund.

A further £75m will be put into a new Social Investment Wholesale Bank, which will provide loans to voluntary organisations.

The majority of the rest of the money, thought to be in the region of £175m, will fund new youth facilities across the country.

But organisations may have to wait some time before getting their hands on the cash.

The Co-operative Financial Services (CFS) has been chosen to set up and run a contingency fund for people who want to reclaim money from old bank or building society accounts. This needs to be done before any money can be distributed.

The CFS must also submit an application to the Financial Services Authority (FSA), before it can even set the reclaim fund up, which it is yet to do.

Despite this, Susanne Rauprich, chief executive of National Council for Voluntary Youth Services, said she was encouraged by the government's commitment to invest in youth facilities.

"We're looking forward to working with government and other funders such as the Big Lottery Fund to ensure that young people's projects and services are delivered in an innovative way that's sustainable and doesn't rely on one-off grants," she said.