Safe savings limit now £120,000 – how to make sure your money's protected
If your UK-regulated bank, building society or credit union were to go bust from today (1 December 2025), more of your savings will be protected. This is because the standard cash amount covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) has risen from £85,000 to £120,000. The protection on temporarily high balances has also increased. However, the investment protection limit hasn't changed.
However much you have, here's how to ensure your money is secure.
The standard cash safe savings limit has risen to £120,000
Prior to today, all UK-regulated cash savings got up to £85,000 per person, per institution savings safety protection. That had been in place since 2017. But the Bank of England, which oversees the scheme, decided to increase that limit to account for inflation.
From today (1 December), the first £120,000 saved per person, per UK-regulated financial institution (not per account) will be protected.
The change is automatic – you don't need to apply or do anything to benefit from the higher limit, provided your savings are covered by the scheme in the first place (which you can check by following the steps below).
Got a joint account? It now gets up to £240,000 of protection. The FSCS limit applies to each eligible person, so money held in an account under two names gets two lots of protection. But it's important to understand this isn't an extra allowance – if you have an individual account and a joint account with the same institution, you still only get one limit of £120,000 to cover both.
More of your savings will be protected after major life events
If you have more cash than usual due to a specific life event – such as selling your main home, an inheritance, or an insurance payout, for example – this may be protected by the FSCS as a 'temporary high balance'.
The limit on this cover, which lasts for up to six months after the relevant event, was £1 million prior to today. As of today (1 December), it's now risen to £1.4 million, also protected for up to six months. You don't need to do anything to activate this protection, though if your bank fails you will need to prove where the funds came from.
But the investment protection limit is NOT changing
Investments are also protected by the FSCS, to the same level as the previous safe savings limit – £85,000 per person, per UK-regulated institution. This applies if your firm failed or were to fail after 1 April 2019. However, this limit WON'T change to match the new safe savings rate – investment protection will remain at £85,000.
How to make sure your savings are protected
Here are the key need-to-knows:
1. Use the FSCS's online tool to check whether your bank or savings provider is covered by the scheme.
Take care to get the firm's name right, and check that the six-digit registration number ('FRN') under the bank name matches the one the bank lists on its own website. You'll typically find this at the bottom of the bank's homepage – or you could contact it to ask.
A new badge (pictured right) will also be rolled out across FSCS-protected firms by May 2026 – so you should start seeing it on savings providers' websites and in their apps and branches over the coming months.
All the savings accounts and cash ISAs listed in our top-rate tables are UK-regulated and have the full £120,000 protection.
2. Check if your bank shares protection with another bank using our tool.
For savings safety purposes, an 'institution' isn't necessarily the same as a bank. If your bank is part of a larger group, the protection may be split between each brand.
For example, First Direct is part of HSBC and the two share protection – so cash saved with those two banks is only covered up to a combined total of £120,000.
3. Want to save in total safety? Consider spreading your cash.
There are a number of techniques you can use, but the basic one is to split money across different UK-regulated accounts, reducing risk. For more info, see how to save in 100% safety.
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