How much of my money is FSCS protected if my bank fails?

FSCS protects £120,000 per eligible person, per authorised firm. The Prudential Regulation Authority confirmed that increase from the previous £85,000, and it applied from 1 December 2025. The word that catches people out is firm: the limit attaches to the banking licence, not to each account and not to each high-street brand — so two names you think of as separate banks can be sharing a single £120,000 between them.

What exactly does the £120,000 cover?

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme is the UK's statutory safety net for customers of failed financial firms. For deposits, FSCS covers money held with a bank, building society or credit union authorised by the PRA, including current accounts, savings accounts and cash ISAs.

The headline figures:

	Limit
Per eligible person, per authorised firm	£120,000
Joint account, per account holder	£120,000 each
Temporary high balance (qualifying events)	up to £1.4 million, for 6 months
Previous limit (1 Jan 2017 – 30 Nov 2025)	£85,000

Compensation is paid automatically for most straightforward bank and building society failures — you do not normally have to apply.

Why "per firm" is the part that costs people money

The protection is counted per authorised firm, which in practice means per banking licence. Two consequences follow, and only one of them is intuitive.

The intuitive one: opening several accounts with the same bank does not multiply your cover. £60,000 in a current account and £80,000 in a savings account at the same bank is £140,000 against one £120,000 limit — £20,000 of it unprotected.

The one that surprises people: separate brands can share one licence. UK banking groups have consolidated over the years, and some familiar names now trade under the same authorisation as a sibling brand. If two of your providers are on the same licence, they share a single £120,000 between them, no matter how separate they look on the high street.

There is no shortcut here and no reliable rule of thumb — group ownership is not the same thing as a shared licence, and some groups deliberately run separate licences. Check the specific brands you use against the FSCS listing of authorised firms and their trading names. It takes a minute and it is the only way to know.

What counts as a temporary high balance?

If a large sum lands in your account because of a major life event, the ordinary limit would penalise you for something you could not sensibly plan around. So FSCS can protect temporary high balances of up to £1.4 million for six months. This limit also rose on 1 December 2025, from £1 million.

Qualifying events are defined and include things like the proceeds of a property sale, an inheritance, or an insurance or compensation payout. Two details matter in practice:

• The clock starts when the money becomes legally transferable to you, or is first credited to your account — not when you notice it.
• Moving the money does not restart the six months. Transferring it to a different account or provider does not buy you a fresh window.

Unlike ordinary deposit compensation, a temporary high balance claim is not automatic; you have to make the case that the money qualifies.

How to check and fix your own position

1. List every provider you hold cash with, including savings platforms and app-based banks.
2. Find the authorised firm behind each brand using the FSCS listing, and group your balances by licence rather than by brand.
3. Compare each licence total against £120,000, remembering that a joint account gives each holder their own limit.
4. Move the excess if any licence is over, or accept the risk knowingly. Spreading across licences is the only mechanism that increases cover.
5. Re-check after any bank merger or brand change, because licences move.

One further check worth making: confirm your provider is actually a PRA-authorised deposit taker. Some payment and e-money apps hold your money under safeguarding rules instead, which is a different arrangement with a different outcome if the firm fails — so do not assume an app-based provider is covered by FSCS deposit protection without verifying it.

In short

£120,000 per person, per banking licence, since 1 December 2025. £120,000 each on a joint account. Up to £1.4 million for six months if the money arrived through a qualifying life event. The single most useful thing you can do is stop thinking in brands and start thinking in licences — then check yours against the FSCS list rather than guessing.

If you are moving money between providers to stay under the limit, it is worth knowing how long a current account switch takes and what the switch guarantee covers.