Consultation on social investment and dormant assets

With the publication of the Dormant Assets Strategy, it has been confirmed that Access will receive £87.5 million to grow social investment in underserved places and communities. 

This includes: 

• At least £12.5 million earmarked to support youth-focused organisations
• £12 million of scale-up funding for a Black and Ethnically Minoritised-led social investment fund, Pathway Fund. 

Access will oversee the allocation of £87.5 million of dormant assets funding to social investment, working closely with partners to deliver on the Dormant Assets Strategy and the aspirations set out in the Community Enterprise Growth Plan (CEGP). 

The CEGP seeks to maximise investment in community enterprises and mission-driven businesses, particularly in the places and communities most affected by long-term economic decline. 

Access is a wholesaler of grant subsidy into social investment funds and other initiatives. We do not make funding available to charities and social enterprises directly. If you are a charity or social enterprise looking for support or to find out more about social investment please visit Good Finance.

The £87.5 million allocated to Access will be used to support the delivery of the Community Enterprise Growth Plan (CEGP). Before we finalise how the dormant assets funding will be distributed, we are launching a short consultation. This will help us shape our Investment Policy and application processes.

The consultation will run for 6 weeks and will close at midday on Tuesday 15 July, gathering views from across the social investment market, the VCSE sector, and other interested stakeholders. 

Much of our approach has already been tested through extensive consultation, including through responses to the public Dormant Assets consultation, so we don’t expect major changes to the overall strategy. However, we’ll continue to engage on key details— and we are particularly interested in views on the following areas:

• How we propose to distribute the funding
• The mechanisms we plan to use
• How decisions will be made

Your feedback will help ensure the funding is used in the most effective and inclusive way. 

We are inviting input from across the social investment, social enterprise, civil society and philanthropic sectors to help shape the next phase of Dormant Assets funding. 

Here is how you can get involved: 

1. Read our Investment Approach

As part of this consultation, we’ve published two key documents:

• Investment Approach – a detailed version, set out in numbered sections to make it easier to respond.
• A shorter version of the Investment Approach – a shorter version of the same document, with two sections on application processes removed. This may be more relevant for those who don’t plan to apply directly to Access for funding.

We encourage you to read one of these documents before attending a webinar or submitting feedback.

2. Join a webinar

We’re hosting two webinars to talk through the Investment Approach and answer your questions. These sessions are open to all and offer a chance to ask questions anonymously.

Our first webinar was recorded - you can watch the recording here and you can download the slide deck here. 

Questions submitted and answered during the webinars will also be posted to the FAQs page on our website.

To attend the second webinar please register via the link below:

• Monday 23 June 14.00-15.00

3. Respond to the consultation 

The deadline for responses is midday on Tuesday 15 July 2025

We have also published a Consultation Response template to help you structure your feedback. Use of the template is optional—you're welcome to respond in any format.

We’ll review all feedback and aim to publish our final decisions and an updated Investment Policy, and open to applications, during the second half of August (TBC).

During the consultation, we will also:

• Hold a series of invite-only focus groups  on specific topics to gather more detailed feedback.
• Engage stakeholders through one-to-one discussions, where possible. If you’d like to request a meeting, please contact info@access-si.org.uk or reach out to a member of the Access team. While we may not be able to accommodate all requests, we’ll aim to ensure a good mix of stakeholder perspectives across any meetings we arrange.

We look forward to your input on these important plans to help shape the next phase of social investment.