Scheme responsible for the protection of your eligible deposit
Your eligible deposit is covered by a statutory Deposit Guarantee Scheme. If insolvency of your bank, building society, or credit union should occur, your eligible deposits would be repaid up to £85,000 by the Deposit Guarantee Scheme.

General limit of protection

If a covered deposit is unavailable because a bank, building society, or credit union is unable to meet its financial obligations, depositors are repaid by a Deposit Guarantee Scheme. This repayment covers at maximum £85,000 per bank, building society or credit union. This means that all eligible deposits at the same bank, building society or credit union are added up in order to determine the coverage level. If, for instance a depositor holds a savings account with £80,000 and a current account with £20,000, he or she will only be repaid £85,000.

In some cases eligible deposits which are categorised as “temporary high balances” are protected above £85,000 for six months after the amount has been credited or from the moment when such eligible deposits become legally transferable. These are eligible deposits connected with certain events including:

  1. Certain transactions relating to the depositor’s current or prospective only or main residence or dwelling;
  2. A death, or the depositor’s marriage or civil partnership, divorce, retirement, dismissal, redundancy or invalidity;
  3. The payment to the depositor of insurance benefits or compensation for criminal injuries or wrongful conviction.

More information can be obtained under http://www.fscs.org.uk

Limit of protection for joint accounts

In case of joint accounts, the limit of £85,000 applies to each depositor.
However, eligible deposits in an account to which two or more persons are entitled as members of a business partnership, association or grouping of a similar nature, without legal personality, are aggregated and treated as if made by a single depositor for the purpose of calculating the limit of £85,000.

Reimbursement

The responsible Deposit Guarantee Scheme is the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, 10th Floor Beaufort House, 15 St Botolph Street, London, EC3A 7QU, Tel: 0800 678 1100 or 020 7741 4100, Email: ICT@fscs.org.uk. It will repay your eligible deposits (up to £85,000) within 20 working days until 31 December 2018; within 15 working days from 1 January 2019 until 31 December 2020; within 10 working days from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2023; and within 7 working days from 1 January 2024 onwards, save where specific exceptions apply.

Where the FSCS cannot make the repayable amount available within 7 working days, it will, from 1 June 2016 until 31 December 2023, ensure that you have access to an appropriate amount of your covered deposits to cover the cost of living (in the case of a depositor which is an individual) or to cover necessary business expenses or operating costs (in the case of a depositor which is not an individual or a large company) within 5 working days of a request.

If you have not been repaid within these deadlines, you should contact the Deposit Guarantee Scheme since the time to claim reimbursement may be barred after a certain time limit. Further information can be obtained under http://www.fscs.org.uk.

Other important information

In general, all retail depositors and businesses are covered by Deposit Guarantee Schemes. Exceptions for certain deposits are stated on the website of the responsible Deposit Guarantee Scheme. Your bank, building society or credit union will also inform you of any exclusions from protection which may apply. If deposits are eligible, the bank, building society or credit union shall also confirm this on the statement of account.

Exclusions List (B) from January 2017
A deposit is excluded from protection if:

(1) The holder and any beneficial owner of the deposit have never been identified in accordance with money laundering requirements. For further information, contact your bank, bank building society or credit union.

(2) The deposit arises out of transactions in connection with which there has been a criminal conviction for money laundering.

(3) It is a deposit made by a depositor which is one of the following:

  • Credit institution
  • Financial institution
  • Investment firm
  • Insurance undertaking
  • Reinsurance undertaking
  • Collective investment undertaking
  • Pension or retirement fund1
  • Public authority, other than a small local authority.
1 Deposits by personal pension schemes, stakeholder pension schemes and occupational pension schemes of micro, small and medium sized enterprises are not excluded.

Contact
If you have any questions regarding the compensation limits, please contact the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) at:

FSCS 10th Floor Beaufort House 15 St Botolph Street London EC3A 7QU Tel: 0800 678 1100 Email: ICT@fscs.org.uk

For further information about exclusions, refer to the FSCS website at http://www.fscs.org.uk/