Dear reader,
Around a million people suffered serious losses and reduced pension payments as a result of the collapse of Equitable Life, which could lay claim to being the biggest pension scandal in living memory, and continues to have an effect on many people’s lives – including yours.
You are correct that the Coalition government offered a compensation fund. It passed the Equitable Life (Payments) Act 2010, which established a £1.5bn compensation scheme for affected policyholders – far less than the £4-£5bn estimate for what was owed.
The Parliamentary Ombudsman concluded that victims’ losses were directly attributable to a decade of serious, serial regulatory maladministration and not just the fault of the company.
The inadequacy of the compensation fund, after the Ombudsman further judged that victims should receive full compensation, remains a big issue. People have died waiting for payouts that have never materialised.
The compensation scheme closed at the end of 2015 and unfortunately, there is little you can do to claim further compensation from it.
However, there is still pressure for full compensation for the thousands of others in a similar position to you through the Equitable Members Action Group (EMAG), and the all-party parliamentary group for justice for Equitable Life policyholders, chaired by Bob Blackman MP, which has 300 MPs as members.
Rather than continuing to request the full compensation, this group recently tried a different approach by requesting more information from the Treasury on how payouts were calculated, believing that the methodology wasn’t clear, and stating that some policyholders with very similar circumstances were being paid different amounts.
So, one possible avenue to go down would be to investigate how your payout amount was calculated by asking for this information.
Or if you prefer, you could pass details of your case to the campaign group. This work is ongoing and could be your best chance of receiving a higher payout, in time.
Write to Pensions Doctor with your pension problem: [email protected]. Columns are published weekly
