The National Literary Trust
On 16 December 2025 we invited National Literacy Trust to submit a written application for up to £12.5 million of Dormant Assets funding, following our solicitation policy.
Why we solicited this application
In Spending Directions dated 12 December 2025, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport directed us to distribute up to £12.5 million Dormant Assets funding to the National Literacy Trust. This will fund services, facilities or opportunities to meet the needs of young people, or activities connected to providing these.
National Literacy Trust is a registered national charity with a 30-year track record of empowering people with the literacy skills they need to succeed in life. They’ve run the ‘Libraries for Primaries’ campaign for several years, which has successfully started to address the lack of library spaces and resources in primary schools. The campaign has established over 1,500 libraries and designated reading spaces, and distributed over 600,000 books in primary schools.
How this fits Dormant Assets funding priorities
The Dormant Assets Acts and Secondary Legislation set limits on how we can use Dormant Assets funding. One purpose permitted for Dormant Assets funding in England is “the provision of services, facilities or opportunities to meet the needs of young people” (from The Dormant Assets (Distribution of Money) (England) Order 2023).
This solicited application fits the permitted categories for use of Dormant Assets funding, specifically the youth strand of the Dormant Assets Scheme. This includes helping to foster a culture of reading for pleasure among disadvantaged children and young people. This can be through targeted intervention and increased access to reading material. It can also focus on the spaces and places that matter to young people, including schools, youth clubs and other settings like early year providers and libraries.
How we’ll assess their application
We asked the National Literacy Trust to demonstrate how their project meets the objectives of the Spending Directions we received from the UK Government.
We’ll assess their application to ensure we’re confident about its suitability, effectiveness, quality and value for money.
Specifically, we’ll assess the application to make sure that the work it describes:
meets the objectives and priorities of the Dormant Assets Scheme
does not replace or duplicate any services that government has a statutory responsibility to provide
meets UK rules around subsidy control
can deliver its policy objectives in a way that represents good value for money
can be implemented accurately, sustainably and on time using the resources available