Equitable Life timeline

Here you can find a chronological overview of the key events in the Equitable Life affair since 2003

2010  
16 December Royal Assent is given to the Equitable Life (Payments) Act 2010 which gives the Treasury the authority to make payments to Equitable Life policyholders and annuitants.
20 October The Government confirms that it accepts the Ombudsman's findings in full and announcesOpen in new window, as part of its Spending Review, that it will make available £1.5 billion for the compensation of Equitable Life policyholders.
15 October The Public Administration Select Committee(PASC) publishes a reportOpen in new window(pdf) welcoming the fact that the Financial Secretary to the Treasury has made clear that the Government accepts all ten findings of maladministration made by the Ombudsman.
14 October PASC holds a hearing into Equitable Life. The Parliamentary Ombudsman, Sir John Chadwick and Mr Mark Hoban MP, Financial Secretary to the Treasury give evidence. During the hearing the Minister confirms that the new Government accepts all ten findings made by the Ombudsman in her 2004 report.
14 September Equitable Life (Payments) Bill Second Reading. Bill introduced by Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Mark Hoban MP. The purpose of this debate is to agree the principle underlying the Bill – that compensation should be paid.
26 July

Following the publication of Sir John Chadwick’s report into fulfilling the new Government’s commitment to pay compensation for Equitable Life policy holders and annuitants, the Parliamentary Ombudsman writes to MPs expressing her concern that the proposals made by Sir John Chadwick are an unsafe and unsound basis on which to proceed. She says:

‘I thought it important to let Members know as soon as possible that the Chadwick proposals seem to me to be an unsafe and unsound basis on which to proceed.
22 July

The Government makes an announcement on the steps that it has taken towards fulfilling its commitment to implement the Ombudsman’s recommendation for compensation. It introduces the Equitable Life (Payments) Bill and sets up an independent commission to advise, by early 2011, how compensation will be paid. The Government aims to begin making payments to policyholders and annuitants in mid-2011.

Alongside this announcement, Sir John Chadwick publishes Advice to GovernmentOpen in new window his final report to Government. The Government said that this advice,  alongside other submissions, would be one of the building blocks of its proposals for compensation.
25 May 

The Equitable Life (Payments) Bill is announced. This Bill will enable payments to be made to Equitable Life policyholders.
12 May New Coalition Government says that it will ‘implement the […] Ombudsman's recommendation to make fair and transparent payments to Equitable Life policyholders, through an independent payment scheme, for their relative loss as a consequence of regulatory failure’.
2009
26 November  Following the High Court judgment, the Government issues a further response to the Ombudsman’s report explaining that it has decided to accept additional findings of maladministration and injustice. The Government also revise the Terms of ReferenceOpen in new window (pdf) for the work being undertaken by Sir John Chadwick.
15 October  The judgment in the Equitable Members Action Group (EMAG) judicial review of the Government’s response to the Parliamentary Ombudsman’s report is handed down. The court upholds some of the arguments against the Government but not all.
18 August Sir John ChadwickOpen in new window publishes his Interim report.
16 July The Government responds to PASC’s first report  Justice Delayed?
16 June  Sir John Chadwick publishes his initial proposals for the ex-gratia payment scheme with a document entitled ‘Equitable Life ex-gratia payment scheme: My proposals as to the approach to be adopted and the issues to be addressed’
27 May   The government responds to PASC’s second report (Justice Denied? Government Response to the Committee’s Sixth Report of Session 2008-09)Open in new window .
20 May EMAG are granted permission for a judicial review of the Government’s response to the ombudsman’s report.
18 May  Sir John Chadwick produces his first formal update to the Treasury on the progress he has made so far.
5 May  The Parliamentary Ombudsman lays a  special 10(3) report before Parliament entitled Injustice unremedied: the Government’s response on Equitable Life.The report says that the Government’s response to her report was deeply disappointing.
19 March  PASC publishes ‘Justice Denied?: The Government’s response to the Ombudsman’s report on Equitable Life’Open in new window.
11 February PASC reopens its inquiry following the Government’s response and takes evidence from the Economic Secretary to the Treasury. In advance of this session and at the request of PASC, the Parliamentary Ombudsman submits a Memorandum entitled The Government’s Response To The Ombudsman’s Report Equitable Life: A Decade Of Regulatory Failure.
15 January

The government responds to the Parliamentary Ombudsman’s report and formally apologises ‘to policyholders on behalf of the public bodies and successive Governments responsible for the regulation of Equitable Life between 1990 and 2001 for the maladministration we believe has taken place’. The response rejects some of the Ombudsman’s findings and her recommendation to establish and fund a compensation scheme.

Instead, the Government proposes to devise an ex gratia payments scheme, based on the elements of the Ombudsman’s findings which it had accepted, and to make payments to those who had suffered  ‘disproportionate impact’. It appoints the former Lord Justice of the Court of Appeal, the Rt Hon Sir John Chadwick, to advise on the Government’s proposals.
2008
15 December PASC publishes its report entitled Justice delayed: The Ombudsman’s Report on Equitable LifeOpen in new window.The report supports the Ombudsman’s recommendations that the bodies under investigation should make a full and unreserved apology to Equitable Life policy holders. It also finds that the Government should accept the findings of maladministration and create a compensation scheme to pay for the loss that was suffered by Equitable Life members.

9 December

 PASC hold their fourth hearing into Equitable Life. Evidence is given by Mr Ian Pearson MP, Economic Secretary to the Treasury. The focus is on the Treasury’s delayed response to the Ombudsman’s report.
13 Nov 2008 PASC hold their third hearing into Equitable Life. Evidence is given by Sir Howard Davies (former chairman of the FSA), Lord Norton of Louth (a constitutional expert), Mr Tom Winsor (former rail regulator from 1999to 2004), Mr Ian Cowie (The Telegraph) and Mr John Kay (The Financial Times). This session focuses on journalists, academics and former regulators and some of the wider issues raised by the Ombudsman’s report.
11 Nov 2008 PASC holds their second hearing into Equitable Life. Evidence is given by the Equitable Life Trapped Annuitants (ELTA), Equitable Members Action Group (EMAG) and the Equitable Life Assurance Society (ELAS). The first part of the session hears evidence from representatives of the policyholders and annuitants who have been affected. The second part of the session hears evidence from the current board of Equitable Life.
30 October PASC holds their first hearing into Equitable Life. Evidence is given by the Parliamentary Ombudsman. The session is the first time that the Ombudsman gives public  evidence about the recent report.
17 July

 The government advises it ‘will need time to consider the report carefully before giving a response to the House in the autumn’.

Dr Tony Wright MP, the chairman of the Public Administration Select Committee (PASC), announces that they will beholding public hearings into Equitable Life in the autumn.
16 July

The Parliamentary Ombudsman lays the third report into the prudential regulation of Equitable Life before Parliament, entitled Equitable Life: a decade of regulatory failure (HC 815). This report makes ten individual findings of maladministration and upholds the general complaint that the regulators had failed for more than a decade to exercise their functions properly and that this ‘serial regulatory failure’ had led to injustice to Equitable Life policyholders and annuitants.The report finds that policyholders and annuitants have suffered financial loss, lost opportunities to make informed savings and investment decisions, and a justifiable sense of outrage.

The Ombudsman’s report made two recommendations:

  • that, in recognition of the justifiable sense of outrage that those who had complained to her feel about the maladministration in the form of serial regulatory failure identified in her report, the Government should apologise for that failure; and
  • that the Government should establish and fund a compensation scheme with a view to assessing the individual cases of those who have been affected by the events covered in her report and providing appropriate compensation.
Pre 2008
15 November 2004 The Ombudsman’s jurisdictionOpen in new window (pdf) is extended enabling her to investigate the Government Actuary’s Department actions relating to the giving of advice on or before 26April 2001 in respect of the exercise of administrative functions by the prudential regulators.
19 July 2004  The Parliamentary Ombudsman publishes the second report into the prudential regulation of Equitable Life, entitled A Further Investigation of the Prudential Regulation of Equitable Life?(HC 910). This report outlines the results of her consultation on whether, given the limits to her remit and subject matter of the complaints, she should conduct a further investigation. The report outlines why the Ombudsman has decided to conduct a second investigation.
30June 2003

The Parliamentary Ombudsman publishes a report entitled The Prudential Regulation of Equitable Life (HC 809). This investigation is only examines events that took place between 1 January 1999 and 8 December 2000. The Ombudsman does not find any evidence to suggest that the prudential regulator failed to take appropriate intervention action during the period under investigation.