One of the growing concerns during this global credit crunch has been ‘How safe are our savings?’

After the Northern Rock crisis last year, where thousands of people queued to withdraw their cash, there was a change to the system which saw an increase in the amount of bank deposits guaranteed by the government from £35,000 to £50,000. 

Although the deposit protection scheme was set up primarily for private individuals small businesses get similar protection if they can satisfy at least two of the following three criteria:

• A turnover of not more than £6.5m 
• A balance sheet total of not more than £3.26m 
• A total number of employees of not more than 50

This would cover almost all contractors working through a PSC.

For further details on what the Deposit Protection Plan covers please click here for a comprehensive Q&A provided by BBC news.