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 - 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.
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?
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 - 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..."
29/07/2010 - EMAG wrote to ALL MPs
In the immediate aftermath of the PO's devastating letter to MPs, EMAG followed up to all MPs on their last day in Westminster (27 July), including:
"EMAG will continue to campaign for fair compensation in the run up to the spending review. It is essential that MPs stand up both for their constituents and for the office of the Ombudsman and discard the Chadwick report to ensure the new coalition government delivers on its promise to implement the Ombudsman's recommendations. You will no doubt be hearing more from your constituency's Equitable victims over the coming weeks. They are understandably upset."
Read the whole letter.
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/
13/07/2010 - Hoban is misleading on Chadwick
In the Commons on 12 July Mark Hoban provided this reply:
Mr Hoban:
"Later this month, the Government will provide a detailed update on the steps towards implementing an independently designed payments scheme. This will be alongside Sir John Chadwick's report on relative losses suffered by Equitable Life policyholders as a consequence of the findings of maladministration and injustice made by the PO."
But Sir John Chadwick's unchanged terms of reference do not require him to address 'relative loss arising from the PO's findings.' He isn't even addressing ALL the findings – only those accepted by the Labour government and as required to be amended by EMAG's successful JR. Chadwick's remit is to address five explicit questions such as 'disproportionate impact' (means testing under another name) and possible slicing of payments for the contributory negligence of accountants, actuaries, the society and even the members – issues not even within the PO's remit.
This is not the first such misinformation. On 26th June, Mark Hoban gave a written answer to Phil Woolas MP:
"Sir John Chadwick is advising the Treasury on the relative losses suffered by Equitable Life policyholders in relation to those accepted cases of maladministration resulting in injustice."
To better understand the mismatch between the PO findings and 'The Chadwick Process' read Nic Bellord and Paul Braithwaite's detail evaluation.
17/06/2010 - EMAG wrote to all MPs who pledged
Given EMAG’s concerns, we intend to re-start the all-party group of MPs. We wrote to all 380 MPs who signed EMAG’s Pledge to bring them up to date.
04/06/2010 - Tom Lake has resigned from EMAG's board
The board of EMAG has reluctantly accepted Tom Lake's resignation. Tom was one of the founders of EMAG in August 2000 and he has served as secretary and chairman in past years. The board expresses its gratitude to Tom for almost a decade of selfless service. Perhaps his greatest contributions have been as one of the two personal petitioners to the European Parliament, which resulted in a thorough Committee of Enquiry and report (EQUI). Also he was a consistent bridgehead to Labour MPs with helpful insight into the Labour Government.
04/06/2010 - Paul Braithwaite celebrates
Local paper Camden New Journal in London reported Paul Braithwaite's pleasure (27 May) at the result of his ten years' fight for compensation being included in the Queen's Speech.
http://www.camdennewjournal.com/news/2010/may/victory-equitable-life-battle
04/06/2010 - Equitable Life AGM 10 May
This was the Equitable Life's first AGM under the stewardship of Chris Wiscarson and Ian Brimcome and notable for the change in atmosphere. There's a new focus on value and reducing overheads. Charles Thomson's exit package was the subject of harsh words, but it had been approved by the now departed remuneration committee chair, Jean Woods. The new duo in control went out of their way to be supportive of EMAG and to stress the shared objective of fair compensation. The two boards are working co-operatively for the first time in nine years. EMAG director Colin Slater was invited to speak and he was warmly applauded. This rapprochement is welcomed.
04/06/2010 - EMAG membership rockets to 37,000
In April EMAG mailed 350,000 Equitable Life members from the year 2000 register to ask them to lobby their MPs and to join EMAG at this 11th hour. We were victims of our own success: More than 15,000 new EMAG members were recruited, causing our small organisation a massive headache in registering and banking. This means that more than 37,000 Equitable Life members have paid subscriptions to EMAG and we've never been bigger or stronger.
23/03/2010 - Ernst & Young in the Private Eye
Private Eye 19 March (P 32) reveals the depravity of Equitable’s old auditors E & Y and describes the practice’s behaviour in sanitising Lehman Brother’s dodgy over-streeched debt. At some length it also alludes to the Joint Disciplinary Scheme (JDS) accountant investigation about Equitable now awaiting the Appeal verdict announcement. This is imminent and will not help Equitable sufferers in two painful ways. First, however big the fine, the levy goes into the coffers of the accounting profession’s body. Secondly, any finding against these auditors will be seized upon by Sir John Chadwick as an excuse to formally salami-slice down his proposed Equitable payment scheme. You could call that lose lose.
16/03/2010 - EMAG concludes 'The Chadwick Process' is a sham
EMAG took several days to read, analyse and reflect on the 109-page convoluted Third Interim Report from Sir John Chadwick. But the reluctant conclusion of the directors at the EMAG board meeting 9 March was that he has now revealed his true colours as a front for the Treasury. There is no evidence that EMAG or other policyholders’ submissions have had an iota of influence on what is looking like a shabby Treasury stitch up.
EMAG has decided to make no further contributions as they could have implied as an endorsement. It was clear that EMAG’s very extensive and constructive submissions, made in good faith, were being disregarded as a matter of course as 'The Chadwick Process' progresses towards the Treasury’s desired outcome. We conclude that it was no coincidence that Sir John wascarefully chosen for this poison chalice.
Read EMAG’s letter to Sir John
Read EMAG’s Press Release
And the BBC’s coverage
Even The New Statesman!
10/03/2010 - Harrow EMAG group success
Both Harrow MPs have pledged support for pension holders who lose thousands of pounds in the near-collapse of Equitable Life. ...Following a series of prompts from lobby group Equitable Members Action Group (EMAG), Tony McNulty and Gareth Thomas have now signed up to the Parliamentary All Party Group for Justice for Equitable Life Policy Holders. The group is calling for full compensation from the government for the money that was lost.
Read more in the Harrow Times here...
10/03/2010 - Dr Tony Wright's legacy
On 4 March backbench MPs showed their teeth and defied front bench attempts at damage limitation by Harriet Harman and Sir George Young. Two enormous changes were voted through. First, the chairs of select committees will be voted for by secret ballot instead of indulged by the PM to favourites as safe-pair-of-hands (like the pathetic John McFall). Second, the Commons programme will be determined by a business committee of front and backbenchers. This is what Dr Wright’s own PASC committee had recommended. It is a terrific legacy for Dr Wright, who is standing down due to ill health. All EMAG sufferers owe him a debt of gratitude for his committee’s repeated PO investigations and support for Ann Abraham’s office. EMAG’s Paul Braithwaite wrote an immediate note of congratulations to him.
Read more in the Guardian here...
24/02/2010 - Harmony is breaking out
There’s a breakthrough in co-operation that’s unprecedented between EMAG and the Equitable Life’s board. This is down to the new broom, chief executive Chris Wiscarson. EMAG is much encouraged by the co-ordination of representations to Sir John Chadwick, which bodes well for further joint actions.
Note that the Equitable’s AGM is to be held in Westminster on the morning of Monday May 10th.
16/02/2010 - Sterling work by Dr Tony Wright
A beacon of integrity in the Labour Party has been Tony Wright and the fantastic constitutional work his select committee on Public Administration (PASC) has done - not least in upholding the office of the PO and standing up for Equitable’s victims.
Wright’s committee’s radical Parthian Shot is to propose 'Reform of the House of Commons', such that the timetable of the House of Commons should in future be fixed by a committee consisting of the government, opposition and members from a committee of backbenchers. It is due to be debated in the Commons on 23 February but the government has delayed the Commons vote on it malevolently until nine days later, on Thursday 4 March. Will MPs once again prove they’re just worthless cannon fodder or could we actually see the a government defeat at the hand of backbenchers – at last?
Read More...
