Dormant Accounts NI Update

From 5pm on 3 March 2023, The National Lottery Community Fund will not be accepting applications to Phase One of the Dormant Accounts Fund Northern Ireland from individual organisations.  If you are thinking of submitting an application to the fund, we encourage you to get your applications in as soon as you are ready.  You don’t need to wait until 3 March.

The team will continue to assess applications and to announce the new awards that are made, but no new applications will be accepted from 5pm on 3 March.

The National Lottery Community Fund are expecting Dormant Accounts Fund NI to remain highly competitive, so before you apply please read through the information on their website for guidance and to find out about the projects they have already funded.  You can also contact their team in Northern Ireland if you would like advice.

The National Lottery Community Fund always said that they would take a test and learn approach to the Dormant Accounts Fund NI.  They have awarded just under £13m through 147 grants.  This is helping organisations to develop new skills and build resilience and sustainability, creating a strong voluntary and community sector which can continue to support people and communities across Northern Ireland.  There is lots to learn about the models that are working well, and the challenges faced, that they want to share with the sector.  You might like to read the first learning report on Dormant Accounts Funds NI which they published in June 2022 to find out what they’ve learned to date.

The Dormant Accounts Fund NI will continue to remain open for strategic applications.  Discussions will still take place with organisations who are interested in developing strategic projects that enable collaboration and develop new and creative approaches to the sustainability of the sector.

New legislation was passed in June 2022 expanding the UK-wide scheme to include a wider range of Dormant Assets.  This means that additional funds will be made available to Northern Ireland through the scheme in the future, as announced by Finance Minister Conor Murphy on 25 October 2022.

The Department of Finance has confirmed its policy direction that the Dormant Assets scheme should continue to support the sector to build capacity, resilience and sustainability in the future.

The National Lottery Community Fund will take some time to reflect on how they have delivered against policy directions and engage further with the sector to identify and address gaps.  In doing this, they will continue to work with the Department of Finance and ensure that feedback from stakeholders informs the development of the next phase.

Their National Lottery programmes will remain open to applications and you can find out more about these here.