EMAG Regional Network

Honor Blackman slams Government over “unfair” Equitable scheme

Paul Weir, Honor Blackman and Les Crouch outside Parliament

Actress Honor Blackman has slammed the government for discriminating against the majority of Equitable Life policyholders who are set to receive only 15% of their losses in compensation.

“I am one of the small minority of victims who have been told they will receive 100% of their losses, but there is no justice for the majority who will get 15% of their losses, or in some cases nothing” said Blackman. “And even among with profits annuitants, the government has imposed an arbitrary cut off date that leaves 10,000 of my fellow annuitants out in the cold with nothing.”

Les Crouch from Cardiff - who took out his WP Annuity in 1991, just a year before the Government ‘s cut off date - has seen his annual pension drop from £10,600 to £3,800 and it’s still falling every year. “We have been forced to downsize our home to save money, and cut down on treats like visiting our grandchildren” said Les. “Even though my pension has clearly been devastated because of government maladministration, I have been completely excluded from the compensation being given to those who started their pensions just a few months later.”

Paul Weir from Cheltenham lost an estimated £50,000 from his pension pot, but is currently in line, he says, for just £7,500 in compensation. “£7,500 means I’m still short of the other £42,500. Does the government really think I’m going to be delighted and stop campaigning after a slap in the face like that?”

EMAG says that the Coalition government has not fulfilled the pledges both sides gave before the election, or their manifesto commitments, and furthermore that they have failed to honour the spirit of the Coalition promise made AFTER the election that it would “implement the Parliamentary and Health Ombudsman’s recommendation to make fair and transparent payments ………….for their relative loss as a consequence of regulatory failure.”

Honor Blackman adds that when she took out her pension she believed that there was a safety net to protect her savings, but it turned out to be an illusion. “The losses have been dumped on the victims. Pension savers should be very worried about what could happen to them.”

<< Back to News