Updated 9 May 2024

EMAG exists to campaign for full government compensation. Will members of EMAG please note that because of pressure of work we regret it is not possible to answer individual written enquiries.

How would you feel if your pension was lost because of others' failures?

Enough is Enough! – April 17 London March

EMAG joined other campaign groups in the ‘Enough Is Enough March for Justice’ in London on April 17. The march was a rallying call for individuals fed up with the scams, scandals, maladministration, malpractice, malfeasance, misconduct, mis-selling, outright fraud, and financial crimes that have victimised them and their loved ones. It was a platform for those who have been persistently failed by the regulators and authorities entrusted to protect them.

EMAG members, including EMAG Chair Paul Weir, marched with other protesters from the Royal Courts of Justice through Whitehall to the Palace of Westminster, with speeches at Downing Street, HM Treasury, HMRC and the House of Commons. The march secured significant media coverage including in the Mail, Telegraph, Sunday Times, FT Adviser, Citywire and others. The march was also covered extensively on GB News. Some of the coverage is available via EMAG's Twitter (now X) feed – see: https://twitter.com/EMAGnews.

EMAG Chair Paul Weir speaking outside the Treasury

Treasury set to pocket c. £180m of compensation owed to policyholders

As a result of a series of Freedom of Information Requests, EMAG has established that at least £177m of the £1.5bn is set to be kept in the Treasury's pockets.

The underspend is accounted for as follows:

Draft legislation

Having discovered that the Treasury is set to keep around £180 million of the already severely reduced £1.5bn of compensation announced in 2010, EMAG has drafted a Bill which would require the Treasury to ensure that the full value of compensation announced in 2010 reaches policyholders. In doing so it would prioritise the most elderly and vulnerable pensioners.

EMAG believes that the Treasury trying to keep over 10% of the already inadequate compensation pot would be a further slap in the face for those who worked so hard to save for their retirement and who relied on the regulators to do their jobs.

It would add insult to injury considering the Parliamentary Ombudsman ruled that regulators comprehensively failed to implement the system that Parliament had legislated for, leading to a loss of £4.1bn for one million people.

APPG AGM

The Annual General Meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Justice for Equitable Life Policyholders took place on Tuesday 19 March. All the existing officers were re-elected to their posts.

EMAG members and MPs demonstrating in Westminster.

EMAG's campaign objectives

EMAG will campaign until fair compensation is awarded to the million victims of the Equitable Life scandal.

For the majority 945,000 victims

95% of Equitable's with profits policyholders have received just 22% of the Treasury's calculation of their ‘relative losses’ without any interest paid from 2009 onwards.

With the economy at last recovering, we are campaigning for a commitment that victims will receive the missing 78% of their compensation entitlement.

For the pre–1992 WP Annuitants

We are campaigning to get MPs to insist that the 10,000 pre–September 1992 WP Annuitants are compensated on exactly the same terms as those who took their WP Annuity after that date. We view the current flat rate £5,000 as a welcome down–payment.

For the post–1992 Annuitants

For the 37,000 WP Annuitants who are receiving an alleged ‘100% of their relative losses’ we are seeking dialogue with The Prudential to see why annuity payments continue to fall every year.