• Fscs Protection Scheme
• Fscs Protection Limit
• Fscs Compensation Scheme
• Fscs Protection Stocks And Shares Isa

FSCS protects temporary high balances in your bank account, building society account or credit union account of up to £1million for 6 months. The protection begins from the date the temporary high balance is credited to an individual depositor's account, or to a client's account on an individual's behalf. This date may be earlier than the date the temporary high balance was credited to your account with the failed firm. You don't need to tell us if you have a balance higher than £85,000.

FSCS cannot confirm the eligibility of a particular temporary high balance unless/until a bank or building society actually fails. This is because we’d need to review all of the available evidence to check that there was a sufficient connection between the relevant life event and the sums in the depositor’s account.

Read on to find out what FSCS protection is, what the coverage limits are for your savings, and how you can actually make a claim. What is the FSCS? The tongue-twisting FSCS stands for Financial. The FSCS provides assurance that your savings are safe by guaranteeing your money up to £85,000 per person, per banking group, or up to £170,000 for a joint account. In the event that your bank fails, the FSCS will protect your savings up to the bank deposit protection limit.

Fscs Protection Scheme

Certain life events could have caused a temporary high balance in your bank account, including:

Fscs Protection Limit

• Real estate transactions (property purchase, sale proceeds, equity release - relating to your main residence only. This does not have to be a UK property but must relate to your main residence).
• Benefits payable under an insurance policy.
• Personal injury compensation (unlimited amount).
• Disability or incapacity (state benefits).
• Claim for compensation for wrongful conviction.
• Claim for compensation for unfair dismissal.
• Redundancy (voluntary or compulsory).
• Marriage or civil partnership.
• Divorce or dissolution of their civil partnership.
• Benefits payable on retirement.
• Benefits payable on death.
• A claim for compensation in respect of a person's death.
• Inheritance.
• Proceeds of a deceased's estate held by their personal representative.

To prove you've held a temporary high balance we may ask for proof, which could include (but not be limited to) the following:

• A property sale receipt or agreement.
• A court judgement.
• A will.
• A letter from an insurer regarding an insurance payout.
• A letter from a lawyer, conveyancer, mortgage provider, former employer, pension trustees.
• Court orders.
• Social security statements.
• Probate/letters of administration.
• Death/marriage certificate.
• Land register and HMRC records.

This list is not exhaustive and the evidence required will depend on the life event of your individual circumstances. If you provide the relevant supporting evidence, we'll pay you compensation within three months.

By Amy Austin

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme has declared 14 firms in default in January and February, including nine advice firms.

In an update published today (March 4), covering the first two months of the year, the FSCS said Manchester-based Copia Wealth Management had defaulted with the FSCS on January 6 after being placed into liquidation in September last year.

By January, the FSCS had received 149 claims against the firm relating to Sipps, investment bonds, investment portfolios, private pension transfers and other pension advice.

It came after the Financial Ombudsman Service rebuked Copia last year over its defined benefit transfer advice.

The ombudsman found Copia had incorrectly assessed a client as wanting to take high risk investments when deciding to go ahead with a defined benefit transfer, which saw him take £10,000 tax free cash and invest the remaining sum of £34,000.

Another advice firm in hot water over its pension advice was Pembrokeshire Mortgage Centre, one of the advice firms that gave up its transfer permissions in the wake of the British Steel pension scandal.

The firm, which traded as County Financial Consultants, was placed in default on January 14 and from January 19 the FSCS had received 35 claims against it.

Pembrokeshire Mortgage Centre went into liquidation in September 2020. In 2017 the firm had voluntarily pulled out of the pension transfer market and in April 2018 it left the pension market entirely.

Other advice firms featured on the list were Inspired Wealth Limited, Sterling Pension Management Limited and RHT Financial Services Limited.

Sipp provider

Also appearing on the list was Sipp provider Liberty Sipp which was placed in default on January 25.

Last week, FTAdviser revealed the lifeboat scheme has so far paid out more than £5.8m in compensation on 187 claims but in total has received 1,860 claims against the firm.

Liberty Sipp was advised to enter administration in April last year due to the number of claims it received relating to high-risk non-standard investments.

The Liberty Sipp Limited business and customer assets were sold to EBS Pensions Limited, part of the Embark Group, in October 2018, which then rebranded the Liberty Sipp as the Option Sipp.

However, the legal entity Liberty Sipp Limited was not part of the sale and retained its liabilities. It consequently had to pay out against complaints using the assets it held.

Sarah Marin, FSCS's interim chief customer officer, said: 'FSCS puts customers and their need for trust in financial services first.

“This focus is needed more than ever, with the increased potential for financial vulnerability as a result of the pandemic.

“FSCS's protection increases consumer confidence when buying financial products and services, and our compensation helps put customers back on track if firms should fail.”

Fscs Compensation Scheme

The defaulted advice firms are:

• Inspired Wealth Limited
• Copia Wealth Management Limited
• Grosvenor Financial Consultants Limited
• Pembrokeshire Mortgage Centre Limited
• RHT Financial Services Limited
• Gardner Massey Wright IFA Limited
• Sequence Financial Management Limited
• Sterling Pension Management Limited
• John Coldwell Pensions & Investments Limited

amy.austin@ft.com

Fscs Protection Stocks And Shares Isa

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