Contractors need to claim forgotten cash before the taxman spends it for them

The Treasurys lasted wheeze to boost public spending on community projects is to grab hundreds of millions pounds of so called unclaimed assets that are currently lying dormant in savings accounts. The British Bankers’ Association (BBA) and Building Societies Association (BSA) have been forced by the government to design a scheme whereby money left in unused accounts for more than 15 years can become accessible to the authorities.

Ahead of the introduction of the scheme Banks, Building societies and National Savings Investments have stepped up efforts to reunite customers with their money but in spite of these efforts there are still many contractors who are unaware that they or a member of their family may have a dormant account which could be worth claiming.

Tony Harris at IFAs ContractorMoney told us 'The lack of action by many potential claimants could be a result of the fact that this grab of financial assets has not been widely publicised but in our experience Contractors seem particularly at risk as they are busy professionals who have a greater tendency to change addresses more regularly than the wider population and are therefore more likely to forget to update historical savings providers with their ever changing details'.

The BBA reports that claims through their free account tracking service have increased more than thirty-fold following an awareness drive, and that an average of 400 customers are now claiming online each day, with hundreds more claiming by post, as customers wake up to forgotten assets worth an estimated £350 million to £500 million.

Tony went on to say "Money in dormant accounts still belongs to you, even if you’ve forgotten about it. It could even be an old school savings account. Our advice as IFAs is to get online to the BBA and track this money down. It doesn't matter how old the account is, how little money is in it, or even if the branch or bank has closed because as a point of principle this money is yours to use and not the governments"

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