OREANDA-NEWS. April 30, 2015. Today the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) announces its levy for 2015/16. The figure stands at ?319m. That's an increase of ?32m from the amount forecast in FSCS's Plan and Budget in January.

The increase is primarily because of a rise in claims relating to self-invested personal pensions (SIPPs). FSCS will levy firms in the life and pensions intermediation sector ?100m in 2015/16 to fund the compensation costs for these claims.

There's good news for firms in other sectors though. The general insurance intermediation sector will not be receiving a levy bill in 2015/16 for PPI claims which have continued to decline.

Although FSCS expects to pay compensation costs totalling ?28m for Alpari (UK) Limited in 2015/16, investment intermediation firms will see a decrease in their levy bill. This is because of a reduction in the costs relating to other investment defaults, and an expected increase in recovery forecasts for the coming year (including for Alpari).

FSCS Chief Executive Mark Neale says: "FSCS protects consumers when financial firms fail. We're there for people who have nowhere else to turn.  The annual levy allows us to compensate consumers, and as a result, make a valuable contribution to consumer confidence." 

Since its inception in 2001 FSCS has paid out more than ?26bn to more than 4.5m people.

A full explanation of the 2015/16 annual levy can be found in the latest edition of FSCS's industry newsletter Outlook.