The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) began in December 2001 and is funded by levies on authorised firms. The scheme was set up as the UK’s statutory compensation fund for customers of authorised financial services firms. It can pay compensation if a firm is unable, or unlikely to be able to pay claims against it. This will generally be because the firm has stopped trading and has insufficient assets to meet claims, or is ‘in default’ as described within the rules.