How to claim compensation from the FSCS

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) pays compensation when a financial firm fails and cannot pay back your money itself¹. It was set up by parliament to return money to eligible people in exactly this situation, and it covers seven different types of business: deposits, insurance policies, insurance broking, investment business, mortgage advice or broking, debt management and funeral plans².

How you claim depends on what has failed. If a bank, building society or credit union goes bust, you do not claim at all: the FSCS returns your money automatically, in most cases within seven working days⁴. For everything else, such as bad advice from a failed adviser, a failed insurer or a lost investment, you make a claim yourself through the FSCS online claims service, which is free to use⁵. This page explains both routes, what evidence you need, how long claims take, and where the FSCS cannot help.

What the FSCS pays for and when a firm counts as failed

The FSCS can pay you compensation if your financial services provider fails and cannot pay back your money itself¹. It only covers firms that were authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) or the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) to do business in the UK³. The compensation limits and rules are set by those two regulators, not by the FSCS itself⁶.

A firm counts as failed, in the FSCS's terms, when it is in default: unable to pay claims made against it, or likely to become unable to⁹. The Bank of England explains that this typically happens when a firm is placed into an insolvency process such as administration or liquidation¹⁰. Once the FSCS is satisfied a firm cannot pay claims, it declares the firm in default, which is the technical trigger that opens the way for the firm's customers to claim compensation⁹. The FSCS publishes the firms it has declared in default, so you can check whether a firm you dealt with has reached that point.

The FSCS is an independent organisation with its own board, overseen by the FCA and the PRA, and funded by the financial services industry rather than by taxpayers or claimants¹⁰. It is free to use at every stage³.

Bank and building society failures: no claim needed, paid within seven working days

If your bank, building society or credit union has failed, you do not need to make a claim: the FSCS will return your money automatically, up to its compensation limit⁵. In most cases it pays back customers' money within seven working days of the failure⁴. More complex cases, including claims involving temporary high balances, take longer¹¹.

Behind the scenes, the FSCS works with the failed firm, the FCA and the insolvency practitioner rather than waiting for customers to act¹². It verifies eligible claims through this process so that the money can be returned without each customer having to prove their balance individually. You do not need to do anything: the FSCS compensates you automatically¹³.

The deposit limit is £120,000 per person, per authorised firm, across all the accounts you hold with that firm³. Two details catch people out. First, if a current account and a savings account share one authorisation, they count as a single firm and the £120,000 limit is shared across both¹⁵. Second, if you are a sole trader with a business account and a personal account at the same bank, you get one claim of £120,000 in total, not two separate claims; a business partnership is likewise entitled to a single claim of £120,000, not one per partner¹³. Our pages on what happens if a bank fails and FSCS protection when bank brands share a licence cover these rules in more detail.

Who can claim and which firms are covered

Most individuals can claim. The rules exclude certain categories of claimant: large companies, large partnerships and large mutual associations are usually excluded, although there are exceptions for deposits and insurance, where large companies can also claim⁹. For general insurance and other non-deposit claims, small companies must have an annual turnover of less than £1 million to be eligible³. The FSCS's insurance protection is aimed at individual policyholders and small business policyholders with turnover below that threshold¹⁷.

To check whether a firm is covered, search the FCA register using the firm's name. If the status shows "authorised", the FSCS may compensate you if the firm fails¹⁸. For insurance specifically, the provider must be authorised by the PRA¹⁸. The FSCS is unable to confirm the eligibility of specific deposits before the deposit taker holding the funds actually fails, so a firm's current authorised standing is the most reliable indication available¹⁹.

Claims against firms that failed before 1 December 2001 are not covered by the modern scheme: they fall under the rules of the separate compensation schemes that existed before that date⁹. The FSCS may also pay compensation to someone claiming on behalf of another person, if that person would have been an eligible claimant themselves²⁰.

How to make a claim online

For all claims other than failed deposit takers, you use the FSCS online claims service⁵. It accepts online claims for insurance, mortgages, pensions, payment protection insurance, investments and debt management⁵. The service tells you straight away whether you are eligible, and you can save your progress and return at any point⁵.

Evidence is where most claims are won or lost. Documents can be uploaded by taking a photo of them or by scanning them²³. If the FSCS does not receive sufficient information within a reasonable time, it has to mark the claim as inactive and pass it back to you, though you can resubmit later if you find more of the information yourself²⁵. To uphold a claim, the FSCS must be satisfied there is a protected claim under the FCA Handbook's COMP rules²⁵. Common reasons claims fail include no evidence of the advice given, no evidence of loss, calculations showing a gain, and claims falling outside the eligible dates²⁶.

You can check your claim's progress at any time in your online account²⁷. Claims move through a series of statuses, from "Submitted" and "Firm investigation underway" through "Evidence required", "Reviewing evidence", "Completing calculation" and "Payment generated" to "Claim complete" or "Claim rejected"²⁸. Where a personal representative is handling a claim for someone else, the claim summary can be signed digitally by DocuSign if the FSCS has an email address for the claimant, or printed, signed and uploaded if not²⁹.

How much you can get back: limits by product

Each type of product has its own compensation limit¹. The headline figures:

Where two claims of the same type arise against the same firm, they share one limit: a claimant with a protected investment business claim of £70,000 and a further such claim of £20,000 receives only the £85,000 limit in total³¹. Joint accounts are treated as two equal shares, so each holder's share counts towards their own £120,000 deposit limit, giving up to £240,000 of protection in a joint account¹⁵. If you hold an individual account and a joint account within the same banking group, the £120,000 limit applies across all of them together¹⁵. Our page on FSCS cover on joint accounts works through the arithmetic, and FSCS compensation limits sets out every limit in full.

One further point matters when you accept compensation: accepting it transfers your legal rights against the failed firm to the FSCS. In a 2025 determination for Tullycarnet Credit Union, the FSCS stated that the transfer of rights happens only if a depositor accepts compensation by electing an electronic transfer or by cashing a compensation cheque³². If your claim is rejected, or until you accept compensation, you remain free to pursue the firm or any third party yourself⁶.

Pensions and pension transfer advice claims

Claims involving pensions and investment advice are now the most common ones the FSCS receives, and they are often the most complex³³. For bad pension advice, the limit depends on when the advice was given: claims for advice received on or after 1 April 2019 are covered up to £85,000 per eligible person, per firm; advice between 3 July 2015 and 31 March 2019, and between 1 January 2010 and 2 July 2015, is covered up to £50,000³⁰.

For pension transfer claims, the FSCS uses an industry approved calculation tool that reconstructs the original pension and models what it would be worth today as if it had never been transferred²⁵. Claims can fail at this stage for reasons such as no evidence of the advice given, no evidence of loss, or calculations showing a gain²⁶. The Financial Guidance and Claims Act 2018 also requires the FCA to ensure consumers have received appropriate pensions guidance, or opted out of it, before accessing or transferring pension savings³⁴.

Before any of this becomes urgent, the FSCS publishes a set of key questions to ask a pension provider or adviser about your protection, including whether FSCS protects the advice, what happens if the firm gives bad advice and then fails, and whether the products being recommended are themselves protected³⁵. Our page on FSCS protection for pensions, platforms and funds covers the position in more depth.

PPI and Plevin claims against failed firms

The PPI deadline of 29 August 2019 does not apply to the FSCS, because that deadline applies to claims against companies that are still trading, while the FSCS compensates when firms have failed³⁷. If you bought a PPI policy and the information you were given was misleading or insufficient, and the firm that gave you that advice has since failed, you may be eligible to claim³⁷. Two conditions apply: the FSCS can only accept a PPI claim if the advice was received on or after 14 January 2005, and it pays 90% of the total claim where the firm failed after 1 January 2010³⁷.

The Plevin case changed what counts as mis-selling. In August 2017 the FCA brought in new rules and guidance for businesses handling PPI complaints, following the Supreme Court's decision in the Plevin case, which concerned commission not being disclosed³⁸. The Financial Ombudsman Service resolved over 100,000 PPI complaints affected by Plevin³⁹. If you already claimed on your PPI policy and later get a refund because it was mis-sold, any payout you received when you claimed will likely be deducted from your compensation³⁸.

Claiming compensation from financial companies is free if you do it yourself⁴⁰. Claims management companies can help you make certain types of claims for a fee, including PPI claims⁴¹, but as the next sections explain, there is nothing they can submit that you cannot.

Cut-off dates: business the FSCS is unlikely to cover

The FSCS did not always exist in its current form, and claims that relate to business conducted before its cover started are unlikely to succeed. The dates differ by type of business:

For investment claims relating to business conducted before 28 August 1988, the FSCS is unlikely to be able to help, as there was no compensation scheme for that business⁹. For mortgage advice and arranging, cover applies only to business conducted on or after 31 October 2004; for insurance intermediaries, on or after 14 January 2005; and for travel insurance sold alongside a holiday or other related travel, on or after 1 January 2009⁹. Debt management is covered only where the firm failed after 1 April 2018¹⁵. Claims against firms that failed before 1 December 2001 fall under the earlier, separate compensation schemes⁹.

Where the FSCS cannot help

Several boundaries matter in practice. The FSCS cannot protect e-money or payment services firms: when a payment services firm entered liquidation, the FSCS confirmed it does not cover payment services¹⁸. In most situations the FSCS cannot compensate people for money lost to scams or fraud, except where bad advice came from an authorised financial adviser to invest in something that turned out to be a scam⁴³. It also does not protect money a debtor pays under an individual voluntary arrangement arranged by insolvency partners, which are not regulated by the FCA, or debt advice generally³.

For insurance, certain types are excluded from protection altogether: goods in transit, marine, aviation, credit insurance, and contracts of reinsurance for insurance firms or brokers and financial advisers⁷. Where an insurance claim is not eligible for FSCS compensation, for example because the policyholder was a large business or the risk was not based in the UK, the claim is recorded with the insolvency practitioner and may be eligible for a dividend if the practitioner can pay one¹⁷.

The scheme rules also exclude people the FSCS considers responsible for, or contributors to, the firm's default¹⁶. And the FSCS cannot give legal advice on whether to accept an offer of compensation: in the Tullycarnet determination it told depositors who were unsure to seek independent legal advice at their own expense³². If you disagree with a claim decision, the FSCS's independent investigator can look at how your claim was handled but cannot change the result of the decision itself⁴⁴; our page on challenging an FSCS decision explains the routes. For complaints against firms that are still trading, the Financial Ombudsman Service is the right body, not the FSCS.

Claiming is free: avoiding scams and fake FSCS contacts

Claiming from the FSCS is completely free⁵. The FSCS is funded by the financial services industry, not by claimants³. Whether you take your claim to a claims management company or come straight to the FSCS, you have to provide exactly the same information²⁷, and consumers who claim directly through the free online service keep 100% of the compensation they are owed⁸. A claims management company will charge a fee for submitting the same claim you could submit yourself⁴¹; our page on claims management companies explains what they charge and how to complain about one.

The FSCS can be reached on 0800 678 1100 and at communication@fscs.org.uk¹⁵. Complaints about claim handling or service can be made over the phone or in writing, and escalated to the FSCS's independent investigator if you remain unhappy⁴⁴. For the wider picture of who protects you and how, see our guide to consumer protection in UK financial services.