FSCS
About FSCS
The FSCS is the UK’s compensation scheme for financial services, helping people get back on track by protecting them when authorised financial services firms fail. FSCS is independent, covers all regulated financial services in the UK and is unique internationally for the scope of the protection it provides. The Scheme protects deposits in banks, building societies and credit unions; insurance; investments; investment and pension advice; home finance advice; debt management and related products.
FSCS’s mission is to provide a trusted compensation service for consumers which raises public confidence in the financial services industry.
FSCS has paid out more than £26 billion since 2001 and come to the aid of more than 6.5m people. We are funded through levies on the financial services sector, and our service is free to the individuals and businesses who need our help. By providing this service, FSCS contributes to market confidence and supports financial stability.
Working at FSCS
Why work for us? At FSCS, we recognise the importance of a diverse and inclusive workplace and understand that this in turn helps us to deliver a brilliant service for our customers. So, we’re committed to ensuring that FSCS is a place where everyone can succeed in achieving their goals, recruiting and supporting colleagues from the widest possible, most diverse pool of talent and creating a real sense of belonging once they have joined. At the heart of this strategy is an open, honest, and supportive culture which enables people to bring the best of themselves to work.
As a result of this focus on our employees’ experience, we are proud to say that we have recently achieved a world class eNPS score of 67, and a record engagement score of 88%.
Diversity & Inclusion
At the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), we are absolutely committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace where everyone can succeed in achieving their personal and professional goals.
We have implemented multiple initiatives focused on cultivating an inclusive culture not just within our organisation, but beyond this too! To demonstrate this, we have listed some great examples of our work here:
• We work with Working Families (the UK’s work-life balance charity whose mission is to remove barriers that people with caring responsibilities face in the workplace).
• We offer enhanced paternity leave of 20 weeks’ full pay.
• We extended our dependant’s leave policy to 20 days’ paid leave, helping to address the challenges of juggling work, home-schooling, or other caring responsibilities during the pandemic, and have since made this a permanent benefit.
• We recently launched a new structured development programme (Career Pathways) – to support employees to reach their full potential and remove any potential barriers to progression; helping them learn new skills and provide development opportunities to reach their goals.
• We recently launched our Smarter Working campaign – Your Day, Your Way - centred around people taking ownership for their working day; encouraging flexibility in where they work, when they work and what they wear.
• We work closely with Business in The Community (BITC), an organisation committed to championing responsible business. We have served on the Leadership Teams for their Age at Work and Race at Work campaigns, and are a founding signatory of the Race at Work Charter (which looks to improve outcomes for Black, Asian, and minority ethnic employees in the UK).
• We’re early signatories to Change the Race Ratio (a campaign to accelerate racial diversity in British business) and are also signatories of the Women in Finance Charter (a commitment to build a more balanced and fair industry).
• We are a Disability Positive Employer and Mindful Employer – we’ve got 11 mental health first aiders, and annually take part in Time to Talk Day.
• We work with Renegade Generation as an age-friendly employer to support those who are mid-career and beyond.
• We rolled out unconscious bias training across the organisation to support our employees, specifically for those involved in recruitment. We also worked with BITC to deliver Let’s Talk about Race training, with all colleagues invited and actively encouraged to attend.
• We launched the FSCS Black Talent Sponsorship Programme in 2020; designed to increase access to opportunities and address underrepresentation at the top levels. In this, each employee is partnered with a senior sponsor from our Executive team, in addition to attending training, networking events, and becoming a mentor for the Aleto Foundation (an organisation supporting the development of a new generation of young leaders from tough backgrounds).
• We also run regular sessions (virtually during the pandemic) to help educate, raise awareness, and support positive discussion. Topics covered have included neurodiversity, menopause, race, and mental health.
We are incredibly proud of our work and our role in truly embedding an inclusive culture at FSCS, and we know this directly and positively impacts our colleagues lived experiences. From our most recent people survey (May 2021), our employees feel they genuinely belong (average score 84%), that they can be themselves at work (average score 87%), and that FSCS is an inclusive and caring employer (average score 91%).