How much compensation can you claim?
You’ll be able to claim a maximum of £85,000, depending on how much you actually lost. Note that if you’re out of pocket thanks to a bank or building society collapsing, you’ll automatically receive compensation within seven 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.
One savings account
The standard compensation limit is £85,000 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 £85,000 won’t be covered.
Joint savings account
If you have a joint savings account, the compensation limit is effectively doubled to £170,000 (but is still £85,000 per person).
Different bank and building society savings accounts
If you have funds held with different FSCS banks, building societies and credit unions, you could theoretically receive compensation of up to £85,000 with each provider. Just make sure you check who owns whom so you can be certain that each institution is under a separate banking licence.
If, however, you’ve got several accounts with the same bank (or banking licence), you’ll still only be covered up to £85,000. This means that if you’ve got £50,000 in a savings account, £45,000 in an ISA and a £5,000 balance in your current account, you’d only get a maximum of £85,000 in compensation should the bank fail – the remaining £15,000 isn’t protected and you wouldn’t get it back under the scheme.
The temporary high balance exception
While the standard FSCS limit is £85,000, there’s a temporary high balance exemption that increases the limit to £1 million for a period of six months. This is designed to cover funds in a situation where the account balance is unusually high, giving 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 residence
- 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 FSCS?
FSCS protection extends to all banks and building societies which 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 you can check by using the online eligibility checker. 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?
Given that Monzo is a UK-authorised bank, it has full FSCS protection, and doesn’t share its licence with any other institution.
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 has severe restrictions on what it can do. It’s payments business is also regulated and all money held in a payment account is “safeguarded” instead of having FSCS protcetion.
What does the FSCS not cover?
While many UK financial institutions and products will be covered, there are some exceptions. For example, unregulated investments aren’t covered by the FSCS. These include money in cryptocurrencies and innovative finance ISAs, among other investment vehicles. Prepaid holiday cards don’t have FSCS protection either, nor do certain e-money companies such as PayPal or Revolut (as discussed above).
Other savings that are not covered by the protection scheme include any funds that are relevant to a conviction for money laundering, or where the account holder's identity has not been verified by the bank or building society. You also won’t be covered 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, but that doesn’t mean you won’t have financial protection. While it is listed on the FCA’s registry, NS&I is 100% backed by HM Treasury. This means the £85,000 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.
FSCS protection on savings platforms
Things can get a little trickier if your savings are held 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. They can offer some of the best rates, too, which is why you’ll regularly spot them in our charts.
One benefit of savings platforms is that you’re not tied to a single bank or building society, and can instead choose between several different providers in one place and easily move your money between them. However, the downside is that your FSCS protection isn’t so clear-cut.
This is because the savings platform itself is only regulated as a payment firm, not a bank – it’s merely a kind of concierge service to help you find the best rates. This means that if it were to fail and it held your money outside of a protected account, you would not get your money back.
However, that isn’t the whole story. Each of the platforms 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 which is provided by a regulated bank you will still have FSCS protection. You are always protected when your money is held in your chosen account.
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 of the most popular savings platforms and their hub account providers – and as you can see, all the most common ones are FSCS-protected:
| Platform |
Holding Account Provider |
FSCS protected? |
| Raisin UK |
Clearbank |
Yes |
| Flagstone |
HSBC |
Yes |
| Hargreaves Lansdown Active Savings |
Barclays Bank |
Yes |
| Aviva Save |
Clearbank |
Yes |
| Interactive Investor Cash Savings (provided by Flagstone) |
HSBC |
Yes |
The account must be in your name to have suitable protection, and bear in mind overall FSCS limits too. The same £85,000 limit applies whether you’ve gone directly or through a platform, so if you’ve got £50,000 with Paragon Bank and another £50,000 held with Paragon but via a platform, you wouldn’t get the full £100,000 if it were to go bust, only the £85,000 maximum.
Similarly, 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).
Just bear in mind that, if things were to go wrong, timelines can be different. If you hold funds directly with a bank that fails, the FSCS should reimburse you within seven days. However, if it’s via a platform, it can take as long as three months to get your money back.
Has FSCS ever been used?
Yes, the FSCS has paid out to individuals and companies in the past. In its 2021/2022 annual results, it said it had paid out £26.5 billion to 6.5 million customers since its inception.
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 nearly £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 £85,000?
If you’ve got savings or an investment pot of more than £85,000, 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, it makes sense to see 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.
