“”Lifeguards don’t encourage sailors to sail into storms—they stand ready when the worst happens. The job is rescue, not risk.”
The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) was never designed to be a vehicle for economic growth. It is, at its core, a lifeboat—activated only when the ship of financial regulation springs a leak and consumers are cast adrift. So, it is deeply troubling to hear its CEO, Martyn Beauchamp, declare that “a commitment to growth needs to be cultural at every level” of the FSCS.
This is not just tone-deaf—it’s dangerous.
Beauchamp’s statement, aligned with the Treasury and FCA’s broader “growth and risk” agenda, suggests a disturbing reorientation of purpose. The FSCS exists to protect victims of financial harm, not to stimulate the markets that produce those harms. Its strategy should be centred on resilience, accountability, and compensation—not expansion, deregulation, or risk appetite.
Let’s be clear: a lifeboat service should never promote the conditions that require its use.
❗Systemic Incoherence
The FSCS’s new direction is a symptom of a deeper systemic contradiction. While the FCA pushes for “more risk-taking” by UK investors in the name of capital markets growth, the very agency tasked with mopping up the consequences appears to be preparing for a future where failure is normalised, scaled—and silently underwritten.
Yet the FSCS is funded by industry levies. And when compensation claims skyrocket, it’s the public who ultimately pays—through higher costs, lost pensions, and shattered trust.
Embedding a growth mindset into a compensation body is like telling firefighters to encourage more bonfires. It completely misunderstands the mission.
💼 What Should the FSCS Be Focused On?
- Reinforcing public confidence through transparency, independence, and timely redress.
- Calling out regulatory failures, not quietly absorbing them.
- Empowering victims by ensuring their voices shape systemic reform—not sidelining them in favour of industry cheerleading.
- Supporting prevention, not normalising compensation as the cost of doing business.
📉 From PPI to Complexity: A Canary in the Coal Mine
Beauchamp notes that while PPI claims once made up 30% of FSCS work, they now represent just 3%. The new claims are “highly complex”—a euphemism for mis-selling, unsuitable advice, and regulatory gaps across newer, riskier financial products.
Complexity is not a justification for cultural change toward growth. It’s a red flag that more protection is needed, not less.
“The function of protecting and developing health must rank even above that of restoring it when it is impaired.”— Hippocrates
Our first duty is to prevent harm before it occurs. Protecting people starts with preventing harm—not just cleaning up after it. True protection lies in prevention, not in compensation.
🔄 Turn Back Before the Lifeboat Capsizes
The FSCS does vital work. But it must remain a last line of defence—not a backdoor mechanism propping up an increasingly reckless financial system. If its leadership is seduced by the same growth-at-all-costs logic that has driven so many regulatory failures, the lifeboat risks becoming just another leaky vessel.
The real five-year strategy should be one of containment, deterrence, and justice—not expansion.
Because if the safety net starts chasing the same goals as the circus, the fall will be even harder—and this time, no one will be there to catch us.
About Get SAFE
Get SAFE (Support After Financial Exploitation) was born from a simple truth: too many victims of financial abuse are left to suffer in silence.
We exist in memory of Ian Davis—for the ones who did everything right, only to be failed by the systems they trusted. We know that behind every vanished pension, every ignored complaint, and every stonewalled letter is a person—frightened, exhausted, and too often alone.
Get SAFE offers more than sympathy. We offer structure, support, and solidarity.
We provide a voice where there’s been silence, and clarity where there’s been confusion.
We stand beside those who have been exploited, not just to help them recover—but to help them reclaim their story and rebuild their future.
Because financial justice is not a luxury.
It’s a human right.
If you or someone you know has been affected by financial exploitation, we are here.
You are not alone.
Academy of Life Planning 
Very beautiful 👌