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A cash equivalent transfer value (CETV) is the amount of money that a pension scheme will offer you in exchange for giving up your defined benefit pension.

If you wanted to transfer from a defined benefit pension scheme to a defined contribution scheme or a personal pension, the CETV is the amount of money that would transfer over to your new pension provider.

The ‘cash equivalent’ name represents the fact that the amount of money offered to you to transfer into your new pension should be equivalent to the cost of the benefits you are giving up – for example any guaranteed retirement income. The Pensions Regulator provides guidance to pension schemes on how to calculate CETVs for their members.

If you make a claim with FSCS for a defined benefit pension transfer, and this claim is upheld, your CETV will be used as part of the compensation calculation.

You can find out more about transferring your defined benefit pension from MoneyHelper - www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/pensions-and-retirement/building-your-retirement-pot/transferring-your-defined-benefit-pension

Yes, for a non-deposit claim you will have the option to provide your bank details when you make your claim online so any compensation payment can go straight to your bank account. For deposit claims, you may be able to get your payment through cash over the counter at the Post Office. If FSCS is unable to make your payment through cash over the counter at the Post Office we'll send you a cheque in the post within seven working days.

Where a cash ISA/NISA is provided directly by an authorised deposit taker (e.g., a bank) which fails, this will generally be covered up to our deposit compensation limit. If a cash ISA/NISA is provided by a non-deposit taking ISA provider (e.g., an investment firm) but that ISA provider holds the cash with a deposit taker that then fails, this will generally be covered by the deposit limit. A cash ISA provided by a non-deposit taking ISA provider, however, will not be protected by FSCS in the event that the ISA provider fails.

Was your pension in the old British Steel Pension Scheme?

You might be owed money if you transferred out. Find out more on our dedicated British Steel Pension Scheme page.

If a temporary high balance is transferred to another bank, building society or credit union, the cover would be retained but the coverage period of six months won't begin again.

This will depend on the type of firm that provides the stocks and shares ISA and the purpose for which the cash is being held. So it is important that customers check what protection and compensation is available to them with their individual ISA providers.

If the ISA provider is an authorised deposit taker, such as a bank or building society, this will generally be covered up to our deposit compensation limit. If the ISA provider is not an authorised deposit taker, such as an investment firm, and your ISA contract with them sets out that the cash is available for investment, then our investment limit will apply.

If your ISA contract sets out that the cash is not to be used for investment but is to remain as cash and your provider holds it with a deposit taker that then fails, our deposit limit will apply.

We may be able to pay you compensation if you were given unsuitable advice to transfer out of your defined benefit pension to a different pension, and you lost money as a result. The adviser must have gone out of business for us to be able to help. It also must have been regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority at the time it gave the advice.

Find out more on our defined benefit pension transfers page.

Savings marketplace, cash platform, savings service – this type of financial company (also known as a deposits aggregator) spreads your money across multiple accounts with different banks. If an aggregator deposited your money with a regulated bank that then fails, it's likely that FSCS will protect it. We'll check and pay these claims as soon as possible, and always within three months.

The same compensation limits are applied if you’ve used an aggregator as for other bank accounts.

You don’t need to make a claim as the process will start automatically when the bank fails, as with our other bank claims.