FSCS explained: Are my UK savings safe?

At a glance

• The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) is a depositor protection scheme that compensates you if you lose out financially when a bank or similar financial provider goes bust.
• From 1 December 2025, FSCS deposit protection covers up to £120,000 per person per banking licence (up from £85,000).
• All banks, building societies and other savings providers listed by Moneyfactscompare.co.uk are covered by the FSCS depositor protection scheme (or similar).

What is the FSCS?

The FSCS, or Financial Services Compensation Scheme, is an independent body that protects and reimburses consumers if their financial provider goes out of business. It was established by the Government in 2001.

This means that, if a firm fails and you lose money, the FSCS will provide compensation. It acts as a kind of safety net to help ensure consumers aren’t left out of pocket if something goes wrong with a financial provider, and it is completely free to use.

The scheme applies to a wide range of financial products and services – provided the firm you’re dealing with is regulated and authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) – though there are some limits and rules to be aware of.

What is the difference between the FCA and the FSCS?

The FCA regulates financial firms in the UK and works in the interest of consumers, ensuring they are protected. The FSCS also works to protect consumers, by paying out compensation when a financial firm fails (if the company is unable to).

What does the Financial Services Compensation Scheme cover?

The FSCS covers money held in regulated banks, building societies and credit unions. This includes money in:

• Current accounts
• Savings accounts (including Shari’ah-compliant accounts)
• Cash ISAs
• Stocks and shares ISAs (if the product provider goes bust, not if you made a loss on your investments or if a company you invested in goes bust)
• Some equity bonds and structured deposit accounts
• Most business accounts (however, most regulated financial services companies and public authorities won’t be eligible)
• Certain bare or simple trusts

If your savings provider goes bust and you can’t get your money back, the FSCS will compensate your losses, including both the capital you deposited and any interest you’ve earned.

The FSCS also provides additional protection to cover certain losses related to:

• debt management plans
• insurance (if you’re entitled to a claim with a failed provider, for example)
• mortgage lenders and brokers (if you lose money from bad mortgage advice, for example)
• financial advisers
• pensions, although the rules around this can be complex.

Provided the firm you’re dealing with was authorised when you used it, has failed and is unable to return your money itself, you could be eligible for compensation.

What is the current FSCS protection limit?

As of 1 December 2025, the FSCS protects up to £120,000 held in cash deposits with any eligible financial institution. The limit was previously £85,000.

The deposit protection limit applies to the total amount held with a bank or building society – not the amount in each account you have with them – and it’s £120,000 per banking licence, not per bank.

Given that several banks can operate under the same licence, this means some savers may need to think carefully about where their money is kept.

For example, in the UK, Halifax and Bank of Scotland come under the same banking licence, so you'll only be covered for £120,000 across the two brands. Similarly, HSBC and first direct share the same banking licence (and so the same FSCS limit).

But NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland, although both owned by NatWest, have separate banking licences, so you would be covered by up to £120,000 for each bank.

Note that the £85,000 limit remains in place for other non-savings products, including stocks and shares ISAs.

Our who owns whom guide reveals which brands operate under the same banking licence, helping savers ensure their savings are fully protected by the FSCS.

How much compensation can you claim?

You’ll be able to claim a maximum of £120,000 per banking licence, depending on how much you actually lost.

Note that, if you’re out of pocket thanks to a bank or building society collapsing, in most cases you’ll automatically receive compensation within seven working days.

If you’ve lost money for another reason – such as your pension provider failing or receiving poor advice – you’ll have to lodge a claim with the FSCS directly and may need to wait several months before receiving a decision.

If you submit a claim to the FSCS because your insurer fails, the amount of compensation you receive will depend on the type of policy. Compulsory insurance (such as third-party car insurance), life insurance and similar policies are 100% protected but, for most forms of insurance, the FSCS will only pay out 90% of the claim.

Single savings account

The standard compensation limit is £120,000 per person, per banking licence. This means if you’ve got a single savings account with a bank that went bust, you’ll be eligible to receive compensation up to that maximum amount. Anything above £120,000 won’t be covered under the scheme.

Joint savings account

If you have a joint savings account, the compensation limit is effectively doubled to £240,000 (but is still £120,000 per person). Make sure you check how much money you have individually if you have a sole account with the same provider.

For example, if you have £100,000 in a joint account with Bank D, half of this (£50,000) will count towards your FSCS limit. If you have another £40,000 in a savings account in your sole name with the same bank, you will individually have a total of £90,000 deposited with Bank D, meaning you will be fully covered if it collapses.

Accounts with different bank and building societies

If you hold money with different banks, building societies and credit unions, you could theoretically receive compensation of up to £120,000 with each provider.

For example, if you hold £100,000 in savings with Bank A and £100,000 with Bank B, your money should be fully protected in the unlikely event that they both go bust.

Just make sure you check if the providers operate under separate banking licences or if they share the same banking licence (which means they share FSCS protection).

For example, if you’ve got several accounts with two providers that share a banking licence, you’ll still only be covered up to £120,000. This means that if you’ve got £80,000 in a savings account with one provider and £60,000 in an ISA with another provider (that shares the same banking licence), you’d only get a maximum of £120,000 in compensation. The remaining £20,000 isn’t protected so you wouldn’t get it back under the scheme.

The FSCS temporary high balance exception

While the standard FSCS limit is £120,000, there’s a temporary high balance exemption that increases the limit to £1.4 million for a period of six months.

This is designed to cover funds in a situation where the account balance is unusually high, giving consumers enough time to redistribute the money across different banks to protect the full amount.

Examples might include funds received due to a dramatic life event, such as:

• Buying or selling your main home
• Equity release
• Funds from an insurance policy
• Compensation from a personal injury claim
• State benefits for disability
• Compensation received for unfair dismissal or wrongful conviction
• Voluntary or compulsory redundancy
• Marriage, civil partnership, divorce or dissolution of civil partnership
• Retirement benefits
• Benefits paid on death
• Inheritance

Remember, the exemption only lasts for six months from the date the high balance hits the account, so it’s important to find the best safe savings accounts as soon as possible.

Who is covered by the FSCS?

FSCS protection applies to all providers that are authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). This means it’s highly likely that your bank is covered by the FSCS, but it may be worth checking with the FSCS. If your bank doesn’t appear on the register, then you may not be entitled to compensation under FSCS protection.

You may be wondering whether newer challenger banks and e-money institutions are covered by the FSCS. The simple answer is that challenger banks, provided they’re UK-regulated and authorised, will be covered, whereas e-money accounts won’t be. For example:

Is Monzo FSCS protected?

Monzo is a fully regulated, UK-authorised bank so it has full FSCS protection. It doesn’t share its licence with any other institution so you can deposit up to £120,000 with Monzo and be fully compensated by the FSCS if it collapses.

Is Chase FSCS protected?

Chase is another challenger that’s fully regulated and authorised in the UK, so has full FSCS protection. However, it operates under the JP Morgan brand, so shares its banking licence (and therefore FSCS limit) with other JP Morgan subsidiaries.

Is Revolut FSCS protected?

Revolut is now authorised as a UK bank, but it has restrictions on what it can do. Customer accounts are still classed as e-money accounts, which means Revolut isn’t covered by the FSCS. However, it safeguards your money to ensure it is protected should Revolut go bust.

Is Trading 212 FSCS protected?

Trading 212 is authorised and regulated by the FCA. It stores all customers’ savings with regulated partner banks which offer FSCS protection, so you will be eligible for compensation if one of these providers goes bust. It’s always worth checking this list of partner banks to see if you already hold any money with these brands directly, as this will affect your protection.

Is Moneybox FSCS protected?

Moneybox is authorised and regulated by the FCA and protects customer deposits, but it doesn’t have its own FSCS depositor protection limit. Because Moneybox keeps customers’ money with third-party banks (which are covered by the FSCS), savers will be compensated if one of these providers goes bust. But it’s important to check the banks Moneybox uses as the FSCS limit will apply to your total deposits with that provider (including any money you keep with them directly).

For a list of banks and providers covered by the FSCS, you can use the FSCS checker to ensure your money will be fully protected.

What does the FSCS not cover?

While many UK financial institutions and products will be covered, there are some exceptions. Some products that aren’t covered by the FSCS include:

• unregulated investments, such as money in cryptocurrencies
• innovative finance ISAs
• prepaid holiday cards
• certain e-money companies such as PayPal.

Bear in mind that you won’t be covered by the FSCS if you lost money because you simply chose the wrong product, or if your investments don’t perform.

National Savings and Investments (NS&I) also isn’t covered by the FSCS, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have financial protection. While it is listed on the FCA’s registry, NS&I is 100% backed by HM Treasury.

This means the FSCS £120,000 limit doesn’t apply, and if the institution should fail, you’ll get 100% of your money back – regardless of how much you have invested. It applies to money held in Premium Bonds or any other NS&I account.

Savings platforms and FSCS protection

FSCS compensation rules can get a little trickier if you have money in a savings platform.

Savings platforms – such as Raisin UK or Flagstone – are websites that offer savings accounts from selected banks and building societies, in some cases offering exclusive deals that you won’t be able to find anywhere else.

However, the savings platform itself is only regulated as a payment firm, not a bank. This means that it isn’t directly covered by the FSCS, but your money should still be protected.

When you deposit money with a particular provider through the savings platform, these accounts should be FSCS-protected which means your money will be covered.

For example, if you deposit £100,000 with Bank A via a savings platform, your money would be covered by Bank A’s depositor protection limit. This means it’s possible to hold more than £120,000 on a savings platform and be fully covered as, if you deposited another £100,000 with Bank B via the same platform, this would come under Bank B’s FSCS limit.

However, bear in mind the overall FSCS limits when using a savings platform. The same £120,000 limit applies whether you’ve gone directly or through a platform, so if you’ve got £80,000 with Bank A and another £80,000 held with Bank A but via a platform, you wouldn’t get the full £160,000 if it were to go bust, only the £120,000 maximum.

Holding accounts

Each savings platform has its own bank account where it keeps your money, pending investment in your chosen bank or building society. If your money is in this hub or holding account (as long as it is provided by a regulated bank) you will still have FSCS protection.

This is why it’s essential to know who’s looking after your cash, and whether the necessary protections are in place. Here’s a quick overview of some savings platforms and their hub account providers – and as you can see, all the most common ones are FSCS-protected:

If you’ve got savings with the hub account provider as well as through a savings platform, make sure that your savings don’t exceed the limit (unless you’re confident that your money won’t be kept in the hub account for long).

It’s worth bearing in mind that, if things were to go wrong, timelines for receiving compensation can be different. If you hold funds directly with a bank that fails, the FSCS should reimburse you within seven days (in most cases). However, if it’s via a platform, it can take as long as three months to get your money back.

Has the FSCS ever been used?

Yes, the FSCS has paid out to individuals and companies in the past. In its 2024/2025 annual results, it said it had paid out £327 million to more than 32,600 customers in that financial year.

It was most used in 2008, when the financial crisis took place. During that year five financial institutions failed and the FSCS made payments totalling over £20 billion to protect consumers.

As for recent years, throughout the COVID-19 pandemic the FSCS has continued to compensate customers, paying out £584 million in each of the years from 2020 to 2021 and 2021 to 2022.

How can I protect my savings over £120,000?

If you’ve got a savings pot of more than £120,000, there are things you can do to ensure your cash is fully protected.

Firstly, you can split your money across several different FSCS banks. For example, if you had a pot of £150,000, you could put £75,000 into an account with Barclays Bank and the other £75,000 with HSBC. In the unlikely event that both providers fail, all your money plus any interest accrued would be reimbursed by the FSCS.

However, before you commit to two different providers, always doublecheck if they operate under the same banking licence.

For example, if you took the same £150,000 and split it between Bank of Scotland and Halifax, your full balance wouldn’t be covered as they are just different brands of the same underlying bank.

Use our who owns whom guide to investigate the ownership of registered UK retail banks in more detail.

Another option could be to split your savings into other accounts protected by other schemes. This could be the NS&I which, as mentioned, is Government-backed, or you could even consider an account which operates offshore.