What is FSCS (Financial Services Compensation Scheme)?
UK government-backed protection that covers up to £120,000 per person per banking institution if a bank fails. This means your savings (including stoozing deposits) are protected. Note that FSCS limits apply per banking group, not per brand — so £120,000 across all Lloyds Group brands combined.
The FSCS is the UK's statutory deposit protection scheme. If an authorised bank, building society or credit union fails, the scheme compensates depositors up to £120,000 per person per institution, automatically and normally within days. It's funded by a levy on the financial services industry and covers deposits held by individuals without any need to claim through the courts.
The limit applies per authorised firm — per banking licence — rather than per brand name. Some groups run several brands under one licence, in which case the £120,000 covers all accounts across those brands combined; others hold separate licences per brand. Joint accounts are covered to £240,000, and a temporary high balance (for example from a house sale) gets up to £1.4 million of cover for six months.
For anyone holding large stooze pots or spreading savings across regular savers, the per-licence detail is the one that matters: cover depends on where each brand's licence sits, not on how many different logos the money is behind. NS&I is the exception to all of this — its products are backed directly by HM Treasury rather than the FSCS.