FSCS £120,000 limit and the per-firm rule
The Financial Services Compensation Scheme protects eligible deposits up to £120,000 per eligible person per authorised firm. Firms that share a banking licence count as one firm, and qualifying temporary high balances are protected up to £1.4 million for six months.
On this page
- Standard deposit limit
- £120,000 per eligible person per authorised firm; in force from 1 December 2025, having been £85,000 since 30 January 2017.
- Single banking licence
- Firms sharing one banking licence count as one firm for the limit; the £120,000 applies to the combined eligible deposits with that licence.
- Temporary high balances
- Up to £1.4 million is protected for six months starting when the money becomes legally transferable to you or is first credited to your account (for example, the proceeds of a property sale).FSCS, Protected deposits and temporary high balances
- Time to pay
- FSCS aims to pay compensation within seven working days of a firm failing, automatically, where the data are available.
The limit is per eligible person, per authorised firm
The Financial Services Compensation Scheme protects eligible deposits if a UK-authorised bank, building society or credit union fails. The limit is £120,000 per eligible person, per authorised firm, in force from 1 December 2025 (the limit was £85,000 from 30 January 2017 to 30 November 2025). Joint accounts are eligible up to the same limit per eligible person. FSCS, Banks and building societies (opens in a new tab).
Firms that share a banking licence count as one firm. The £120,000 covers the combined eligible deposits a person holds with that licence, not each account or each product separately. A separate legal entity, such as a limited company or LLP, can claim up to £120,000 in its own right at the same bank, where the eligibility conditions are met. FSCS, Banks and building societies (opens in a new tab).
What is and is not an eligible deposit
Eligible deposits include those held in current accounts, savings accounts, instant-access accounts and term deposits at an authorised UK firm. Some products are not protected: bearer instruments such as paper bonds, deposits held at firms that are not UK-authorised, and deposits held outside the UK at the local branch of a UK firm are excluded. FSCS, What we cover (opens in a new tab).
The FSCS' protection is a UK regulatory scheme. A deposit at a UK-authorised firm's overseas branch falls under the host country's deposit protection scheme, not the FSCS. A deposit at a non-UK firm does not attract FSCS cover. A self-invested personal pension or an insurance product has its own FSCS limits (an investment firm's failure would be paid from a separate FSCS investment limit, not the deposit limit).
Temporary high balances get six months' extra cover
Qualifying temporary high balances are protected up to £1.4 million for six months starting when the money becomes legally transferable to you or is first credited to your account. Qualifying events include a main-home sale, inheritance and redundancy. Personal injury, disability or incapacity claims may have unlimited protection. The additional protection is per person, per qualifying life event. FSCS, Temporary high balances (opens in a new tab).
After six months the temporary high balance is no longer separately protected at the higher amount; the standard limit continues to apply. The boundary depends on when the money becomes legally transferable to you or is first credited to your account, the deposit instrument and the conditions the FSCS publishes. Where the start date is uncertain, the FSCS page is the authority.
FSCS protection is not a product feature
An FSCS-backed product depends on the firm being UK-authorised and on the product being an eligible deposit. The Financial Services Register at the FCA is the record of which firms are authorised and what they are authorised for. Authorisation status can change; an unauthorised product is not FSCS-protected, however well-described it is. Financial Conduct Authority, Financial Services Register (opens in a new tab).
FSCS is funded by levies on authorised firms, paid after a firm has failed. Compensation is paid automatically where the firm and the depositor are matched on the FCA's records; manual review follows if they are not. Neither path is guaranteed under any other scheme, and an FSCS payment does not change the firm's obligation to you. This page is an original explanation based on FSCS and FCA pages; the FSCS terms are separate from the Open Government Licence and apply on their own.