EMAG

The independent action group for current and ex Equitable Life policyholders, funded by contributions.

Equitable Members Action Group

Equitable Members Action Group Limited, a company limited by guarantee, number 5471535 registered in the UK

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  • 30/07/2012 - Second Year Payments

    EMAG has heard that second year payments to with profits annuitants have begun to be made through BACS. This seems insensitive to the 12,000 thousand eligible WPAs who had received no payment by the end of June. Will they receive TWO years of payments in their first tranche?

  • 05/04/2012 - More confusion

    Whilst it appeared that everyone would hopefully know what is to be their level of proposed compensation before the end of June 2012, this may not be the case. It appears that some policyholders are receiving requests that they provide documentary evidence of who they are and where they now live. This may or may not lead to deferred payments.

    Worse, it appears that where a joint–life annuitant dies during the five–year spread of compensation payments for the years up to 2009, the compensation due will immediately stop being paid out. It may be that payment of the residue will be made out to the Estate and not automatically flow to the widow — EMAG is seeking clarification.

  • 01/02/2012 - Mark Hoban is a broken record

    Read the complaint letter from EMAG's Paul Braithwaite to Chancellor George Osborne, 13 December 2011.

    Six weeks later, Mark Hoban replied on the Chancellor's behalf. This continued, like a broken record, to hide behind the false assertion that the PO intended to exclude the early annuitants.

  • 26/09/2011 - Exactly how many??

    Half a dozen times in the last month, Mark Hoban has received written questions as to how many of the million Equitable policyholders acknowledged as due to receive compensation have so far received payments, since he trumpeted that the first cheques had gone out on June 29. The answer, over and over again has been ‘hundreds’ — unbelievable! And it is EMAG's impression that thus far NO with–profits annuitant at all appears to have received a payment.

    The 945,000 people who are not Equitable annuitants and who are expecting a cheque are getting a shock when they find that the cheque is only for one fifth of what the Treasury estimates as their losses. Mark Hoban says that the Scheme administrators, National Savings and Investments, aspire to have distributed £500m by next April.

    When the with–profits annuitants do finally start to receive payments (and maybe that won't even be this year) they will be unpleasantly surprised to learn that the compensation due to them to the year 2009 will be paid out in five annual instalments, in many cases taking until the year 2016 to receive effectively their back pay.

  • 01/09/2011 - EMAG’s AGM 17 November

    The EMAG AGM will once again be held at the Birmingham Midland Institute at 2.00pm on Thursday 17 November. EMAG's report and accounts should be received by members in mid-October.

  • 02/07/2011 - Government starts sending letters but it will take 12 months

    EMAG is being bombarded with enquiries from people demanding to know where their cheque is. As EMAG is not privy to how the Treasury is operating its scheme, please ask them.

    The sending of one million letters will be spread out over 12 months between now and June 2012.

    Treasury minister Mark Hoban has made much of his promise that the first compensation cheques will go out on 30 June 2011. But he's not made clear that those WPAs due to receive ‘100% of their relative losses’ will receive the sum due to them up to 2009 in five small annual payments, taking until 2016. And as yet, we have no idea how the calculations are to be made or how many will actually get any payment at all this summer.

    If you receive an offer letter, then please share it with EMAG by contacting us offer@emag.org.uk.

    To help everybody, we need to hear from people who HAVE received offers, not people who haven't! Thank you.

    Where to address your questions:

    http://equitablelifepaymentscheme.independent.gov.uk/

    Helpline numbers:

    General enquiries only: phone 0300 0200 150

    Calls are charged at UK national rates. Lines are open between 8am–8pm Monday to Friday (except on bank holidays) and 8am–12pm Saturday. This service is for general enquiries only. For your security we cannot discuss individual cases and our operators have no access to your personal or policy details.

    Overseas calls: phone 0141 232 1377

  • 31/03/2011 - Next meeting of the APPG

    MPs will be invited to attend the next meeting of the all party Parliamentary group for Justice for Equitable Life Policyholders, to be held in Committee Room 8 in the House of Commons on the afternoon of Wednesday 18 May. Please inform your MP.

    There are currently 70 MPs members of the group. Is yours? www.emag.org.uk/justice_group.php

  • 31/03/2011 - Sharon Bowles MEP

    On 25 March, Paul Braithwaite of EMAG met with Sharon Bowles, who has taken an active interest in righting injustice to Equitable Life policyholders since EMAG took its petition to Brussels in 2005. Sharon is now chair of the all-powerful EMAC (Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee). She promised to take the matter further with the UK Treasury.

  • 21/02/2011 - Answering your questions

    EMAG is being deluged with enquiries about the compensation scheme. Policyholders do not understand whether they are eligible, how their compensation will be calculated, when they will receive notification and when their payment will be made. The Treasury 's FAQ page provides some answers.

    But EMAG doesn 't see why we should be doing the Treasury 's job, so we 're encouraging policyholders to write to their MPs to ask them to obtain the above information of their behalf!

    It 's a highly complex situation. For example, for with profits policyholders who did not take their with profits pensions with Equitable Life, ONLY those premiums paid into the society between 31 December 1992 and 31 December 2000 are counted towards calculating the individual 's "relative loss". Further reading: The report of the independent Commission.

  • 21/02/2011 - No it 's NOT sorted!

    The Coalition's propaganda machine has been busy: MPs have been given this "bullshit" line to propagate. This from Lib Dem MP Lynne Featherstone's website:

    "We have agreed a deal on Equitable Life which is fair to policy owners and the tax payer. This will finally bring an end to a terrible saga which Labour wouldn't resolve."

  • 21/02/2011 - EMAG's report and accounts

    All current members should have received the EMAG full Report and Accounts in the first week of January. But it is apparent that quite a few went astray. If by chance you never received or you have mislaid your EMAG renewal form, please Email: paulbraithwaite@gmail.com

    Some non-members have complained that they have not seen the accounts. Though not obliged to publish them, here are the EMAG accounts for 2009–2010.

  • 21/02/2011 - EMAG's new director

    The board of EMAG welcomes Colin Downes. He has been EMAG's regional co-ordinator in the West Midlands for two years. He was co-opted to the board of EMAG in December and his appointment was ratified at the AGM on 26th Jan, 2011.

  • 21/02/2011 - News of the all-party group

    The new all-party Equitable Life group, which EMAG administers, has grown in number to 70 MPs. Is yours one of them?
    http://www.emag.org.uk/justice_group.php

    The next meeting of the group is expected to take place in mid-May (tbc).

  • 21/02/2011 - Catch up on the Equitable saga

    Probably the fastest way to catch up on developments over the past roller-coaster year is to just read back on the EMAG quotes of the week: http://www.emag.org.uk/quote_archive.php

  • 07/02/2011 - Mark Hoban’s explanation

    On 19 Jan Mark Hoban wrote a detailed explanation to Norwich South’s MP, Simon Wright, to explain his rationale.
  • 27/01/2011 - EMAG’s AGM

    For the first time in a decade EMAG experimented with holding the AGM out of London, in Birmingham and in the afternoon. It was a considerable success, with 120 members attending. All EMAG directors were present except Nicolas Bellord. New board member Colin Downes — EMAG’s organiser from the West Midlands — was introduced. The meeting heard from chairman John Newman, followed by a brief talk from Chris Wiscarson, chief executive of Equitable Life — who was well received. It fell to Paul Braithwaite to explain at length the EMAG board’s unanimous decision not to proceed with a Judicial Review against the Government. Paul Weir gave an outline of EMAG’s long-term strategy. The board would like to thank all those EMAG members and activists who attended.

  • 27/01/2011 - The independent Commission reports

    Coincidental with the EMAG AGM, the Treasury chose to publish the report of the independent Commission — a week early. Cheques for as little as £10 will be dispatched over the next three years to 950,000 victims — no details available. But that will be at the rate of just one fifth of losses, estimated by the Treasury’s actuaries, Towers Watson, and with no added interest for the wait of up to 13 years.

    The Coalition’s brass neck of proposing that a 20% payout is ‘fair’ further devalues this much used word by our politicians. EMAG does not criticise Brian Pomeroy, the Commission’s chairman, or his two colleagues. Their remit was totally emasculated by minister Mark Hoban on 27 October. Its purview is a far cry from the PO’s intention that the Commission establish the true ‘relative loss’, design a compensation scheme that was fair between the classes and oversee its implementation. We have the gross distortion of 10,000 old pensioners callously left out in the cold with nothing, nearly a million victims sharing a derisory small payout and 37,000 annuitants being promised 100% of their losses, to be paid for as long as they shall live. It’s Alice in Wonderland.

    Read about and download the Commission’s report.

  • 24/12/2010 - Payment Bill legislation passed

    The Equitable Life (Payments) Act received Royal Assent on 16th December. Interesting to note that admin and distribution costs, which could be significant, can be deducted from the £1 billion authorised in the three–year CSR period: "Expenditure incurred by the Treasury for or in connection with the making of payments to which this section applies may be paid out of money provided by Parliament."

  • 03/12/2010 - The Treasury response to Lord Willoughby speech of 24 November

    Lord Willoughby spoke up well on behalf of the 10,000 early WPAs in the Lords Committee Stages — read his speech.

    It provoked a detailed response from the Coalition Treasury lead in the Lords, Lord Sassoon. Read his comprehensive explanation as to why they should get nothing etc.

  • 29/11/2010 - The work of the independent Commission

    Three EMAG directors will be meeting the independent Commission for the third time on 8 December. We will lodge a written response to the Commission by their deadline of 3 December. It will be published with the Commission’s report at the end of January. Read the Commission’s discussion paper and consider making a personal submission.

  • 12/11/2010 - The independent Commission

    The independent Commission’s much emasculated remit was published by the Treasury on 27 October

    It is now merely asked to advise Government on the allocation of the £775m to the million policyholders who are not WPAs. It is due to report its conclusions at the end of January 2011 and it invites personal submissions as to preference allocation and prioritisation, to be sent in before 3rd December. One–off payments will be made to those deemed deserving and in the order to be designated by the Commission over the next three years.

    See: http://equitablelifepayments.independent.gov.uk/d/discussion_paper_031110.pdf

    Notwithstanding the fact that the remit now has little relation to the PO Report’s intention that the Commission should be the designers of a scheme that’s fair between the policyholder classes and that dispenses the justice she sought, EMAG continues to seek to help the Commission constructively.

  • 15/10/2010 - A new Early Day Motion 814

    On 12 October a new EDM 814 was lodged. Its first three signatories are from all three main political parties and they are the executive of the new all–part group. Within 48 hours, 30 MPs have already signed. It reads:

    "That this House recognises the important role of the Parliamentary Ombudsman in determining complaints of maladministration; supports the convention that the Ombudsman’s recommendations are accepted and acted upon by the Government; recalls that the central recommendation of the Ombudsman in her July 2008 report on Equitable Life was the payment of compensation to remedy relative losses with the aim of restoring Equitable Life policyholders to the position they would have been in had no maladministration occurred; accepts that public purse considerations will play a part in the amount of compensation made available; notes that the impact on the public finances can be spread by prioritising payments to the most needy and elderly while the economy recovers; and calls on the Government to announce a fair quantum of compensation in line with the personal pledges made by Ministers and other hon. Members."

    Help EMAG to get the number of MPs having signed up to 100 before Wednesday’s spending review announcements.

    Check whether your MP has signed.

  • 21/09/2010 - 'Cookie cutters' keep on coming

    Yet another Tory 'cookie cutter' letter, still containing all the same misinformation and making no reference to the content of the Commons debate whatsoever was sent out by Tory MP Charles Hendy on 20 September.  The same letter was sent by the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Justine Greening, to a constituent on 10 September.  You'd think from her position of knowledge she could have written one of her own.

  • 20/09/2010 - Chris Wiscarson flies a kite

    Chris Wiscarson appeared on Sky TV's live business programme, chaired by Jeff Randall, on Monday 13 September. At the end of the interview he flew the possibility of a settlement quickly and for cash of £2 billion. This brought universal wrath from policyholders who are in no mood for being so short-changed. The day before, Chis roundly lambasted Mark Hoban in a big feature in the Sunday Telegraph.

  • 09/09/2010 - The great debate: 14 September.

    The Equitable is due to be debated again in the Commons on Tuesday 14 September and EMAG's regional groups have been in overdrive meeting MPs up and down the Country lobbying for the MPs to participate. Read Paul Braithwaite's letter briefing ALL MPs, mailed to them on 9 September.

    The Treasury will not have set the quantum but no doubt the government will be watching the mood of backbenchers before it sets the final figure for compensation. That will be announced, buried under a raft of very big cuts to be announced in the Autumn Spending Review by Danny Alexander MP, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, on 20 October.

  • 25/08/2010 - Please, write again to your MP

    MPs have been lulled into believing that the Treasury's Statement reporting Chadwick's recommendation of circa £500 million compensation, a tenth of what is our due, is reasonable under the circumstances. It is not. Write to express your outrage to your MP – easily done via www.writetothem.com.

    ASK your MP to honour their Pledge (if they signed) for FAIR compensation and not Chadwick's derisory sophistry: http://www.emagregional.org.uk/pledgedmps

    ASK them to attend the Equitable debate in the Commons on 14 September and speak up for FAIR treatment on your behalf and to base compensation, as the PO proposed, on "relative loss". Seek a compassionate advanced early payment before Christmas to the with-profits annuitants, from at least an immediate £1 billion in cash (tax-free) with the rest of what's due, if the economy necessitates, over the life of the Parliament. WHY should the victims, who've been kept waiting for a decade for compensation be in the front line of draconian cuts?

  • 25/08/2010 - TW's calculation is flawed

    On 21 July the Treasury's actuaries, Towers Watson, wrote a letter to financial secretary to the Treasury, Mark Hoban, reporting their estimate of "relative loss" as being between £4 and £4.8 billion.

    BUT, the template that they were obliged to quantify was very narrowly defined by Sir John Chadwick. For example, it excluded those PO findings not accepted by the Labour government and it ignored, against the instruction of the Divisional Court (and the Ombudsman), the 18-month period before January 1993 which EMAG estimates would add £750 million to the "relative loss" figure...

    EMAG directors Nicolas Bellord and Paul Braithwaite have written a short paper explaining the deficiencies in Towers Watson's instructions, set by Sir John Chadwick, which Towers Watson were obliged to address. Read EMAG's report.

  • 23/08/2010 - EMAG reports

    Despite the holidays, EMAG has been very busy analysing all the new propaganda material published by the Treasury. There's a report by EMAG director Alex Henney's de-mystification of the self-important and hugely complex Chadwick report and there are several further studies. EMAG director Nicolas Bellord's has written a paper on the defects in the template imposed on actuaries Towers Watson and a 35-page detailed analysis of the Chadwick report.

    EMAG has commissioned insurance expert senior Counsel, Anthony Boswood QC of Fountain Court whose preliminary views include:

    "To the extent that 'absolute loss' can be equated with a proven, accrued loss such as in the example given above, and Sir John's reasoning involves applying a discount to absolute loss, his advice is logically indefensible and could not result in fair compensation to policyholders."

    These items will NOT be published here at this time but will be made available to EMAG members, who have underwritten the work. There's also a template letter draft of what members might write to their MPs. Links to these will be provided in EMAG's next newsletter to members.

  • 29/07/2010 - Timetable

    Mark Hoban has suggested people make representations to him about his Statement through the summer. That would probably be about as effective as when Vanni Treves called for representations to his draft CONpromise scheme in October 2001 – when the scheme changed not one iota despite 24,000 written representations.

    EMAG suggests that more positively you write, please during August, a polite but forthright letter directly to David Cameron and/or Nick Clegg, with copies to your own MP, your local EMAG regional team and Mark Hoban. We want the Coalition's leadership to realise the depth of anger at being offered one tenth of the now confirmed relative losses of £4.8 billions. Realise that 380 MPs have signed EMAG's Pledge to honour the PO recommendations and make FAIR compensation payments. Until proved otherwise, we should accept those pledges were made in good faith. Remember that 230 of our MPs are brand new.

    The list of MPs who signed the Pledge is at: http://www.emagregional.org.uk/pledgedmps

    There will be a very important Equitable Life debate in the Commons on Tuesday 14th September. So MPs have to be made aware that we are not going to accept Chadwick's deplorable methodology before then. That will be a pivotal day. The Tory Conference in Birmingham between October 3trd and 6th will be a time for final political pressure and EMAG will be there.

    The 'drop dead' date is 20th October when the quantum allocated to compensation will be announced. Please, play a part personally in ensuring that the sum is much much more than Chadwick's shabby proposal of just £500 million. Make contact through EMAG regional to find out how you can help: http://www.emagregional.org.uk/

  • 29/07/2010 - EMAG asked Mark Hoban...

    On 28 July EMAG wrote formally to Mark Hoban asking him to change the Commission's terms of reference, including:
    "...The Ombudsman's forthright and unequivocal dismissal of the Chadwick Report makes it crystal clear that the Coalition's commitment to implementing the Ombudsman's recommendation should not be based on Sir John's work.  As a building block in your consideration of how to compensate the victims of the Equitable Life scandal we suggest that Chadwick's report is now a dead duck.  Dumping the Chadwick Report will necessitate redrafting the questionable Terms of Reference of the Commission that you have established..."