I wish to invest funds off shore in my wife's name to get the best possible Gross Rate. I wondered which off shore investments are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. I can tie the money up for 6/12 months

Probaby only Northern Rock which is under the control of the Government.

However thay are allowed only 1.5% of the deposit market, and as thay are at that limit, they have lowered interest rates and may limit the deposits that can receive.

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme only applies to UK banks, UK building societies and some UK operations of foreign banks. It does not cover offshore accounts. It is also possible that it wont cover a UK account that is not opened in the correct name.

If you are concerned about the guarantees, you should avoid the Channel Islands where there is none and the Isle of Man where it is limited to 75% up to £15k.

In my opinion, you should be 100% certain that there is a tax advantage for going offshore and, presumably, using a bank that you have not dealt with before. All UK banks and building societies will pay interest gross if you are entitled and if you fill in the right form. Fixed term bonds tend to offer the best rates.

maxstream - your info is clearly out of date - IOM now provides £50k for each person compensation, for all the good that is if you have any large deposits. You all need to be aware that compensation also takes many years to pay out!!

Hardly out of date! My above post was dated 12 Oct. The limit was changed on Thursday.

Unlike the UK guarantee, the IOM depositor protection is not 100% of £50k though.

http://www.gov.im/fsc/investor/dep_comp.xml

The EU suggests a 3 month timescale for payments. FSA has a 6 month timescale. I'm not sure of the IOM's time limits for payments but it will certainly be long enough to cause inconvenience at the very least.