Policy background Scheme expansion
From 2016, industry worked with the Government to consider how best to expand the Scheme. In 2017, the Commission on Dormant Assets reported on the potential to include a wider range of asset classes. 1 In 2018, the Government confirmed its support for Scheme expansion and asked industry to explore how this would work in practice.
	Four senior Industry Champions took this forward, publishing their report in April 2019. 2 This made recommendations to industry, the Government, and regulators on broadening the Scheme to include assets from the insurance and pensions, investment and wealth management, and securities sectors.
	Building on this, the Government launched a public consultation in February 2020 to gather views on the proposed approach to expansion. 3 The Government's response to the consultation was published in January 2021 and committed to introducing legislation to enable Scheme expansion. Responses to the consultation informed the development of the Act.
	The expanded Scheme functions in a similar manner to the pre-existing Scheme with a participant being required to sign a TAA with RFL before transferring money to it. Such an agreement gives RFL the flexibility to tailor certain provisions to the assets in question, ensuring that the relevant consumer protection efforts – including tracing, verification, and reunification – are made.
	For funds that cannot be reunited with owners, despite these efforts, Scheme expansion is estimated to unlock £880 million over the next ten years for social and environmental purposes across the United Kingdom. 4