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Why is there no compensation for Equitable Life policy holders who held individual employee with profits money purchase pensions?

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Mr P Griffin
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Dear Prudential Regulation Authority,

Why was there no compensation for Equitable Life policy holders who held individual ‘money Purchase’ pensions, when the strict legislation (the Income And Corporation Taxes Act 1970) which governed such arrangements, provided protection from companies , such as Equitable, from making contracts which were not honoured. My contract was not honoured and many others of a similar nature were not honoured, except those where the individuals who were able took Equitable to court , and won, causing the collapse of the mutual company. So where is the justice in this when the governing regulatory body at the time allowed Equitable to issue such contracts?
Surely, the regulatory body was at fault and , as such, compensation is due?

Yours faithfully,

Paul Griffin

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Enquiries, Bank of England

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Dear Paul Griffin,

Thank you for your email dated 5 September 2024.

You made a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the Bank of England which asks, “why is there no compensation for Equitable Life policy holders who held individual employee with profit money purchase pensions?”. Please note that the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) provides for a general right of access to recorded information held by a public authority. It does not require the Bank of England to provide advice or answer questions on specific subjects. Therefore, we are dealing with your email as a general enquiry and not under FOIA.

The following information is in the public domain and may help you with your enquiry:

The UK government set up an Equitable Life Payment Scheme and further information on this can be found on here: Equitable Life Payment Scheme - GOV.UK (https://www.gov.uk/). Please note that the scheme has closed, and it is no longer possible to make a claim from the scheme or request a recalculation of the amount of money received from it.

The Equitable Life Payment Scheme was a government scheme and had no association with the Equitable Life Assurance Society. As such, the scheme cannot answer questions about Equitable Life products. If you have any such questions, do not write to the Scheme, but instead contact Equitable Life at:

Equitable Life Assurance Society, Walton Street, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, HP21 7QW
Telephone: 0330 159 1530 Email: [email address]

To address your second question about whether compensation is due from the regulatory body, you can find further information on this in the full report by HM Treasury here: HM Treasury: the prudential regulation of the Equitable Life Assurance Society January 2009 - GOV.UK (https://www.gov.uk/). It should be noted that the prudential regulation of Equitable Life Assurance Society was carried out by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) at the time of its closure. The FSA was the agency that regulated financial services in the United Kingdom until 2013 and has since been replaced by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) of the Bank of England.

Although we are treating your email as an enquiry, you can consider making a formal complaint against the regulator using the Bank of England Complaints Scheme. A copy of the Complaints Scheme can be found on the Bank of England website: https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/contact/.... Annex B of the Complaints Scheme explains how to make a complaint about the FSA. Please note that, under paragraph 2.4 of the Complaints Scheme, a complaint must be made within 12 months of you having become aware of the matters that gave rise to it, unless you can demonstrate reasonable grounds for delay.

We hope that this information is helpful.

Engagement and Enquiries
Bank of England

Threadneedle Street, London EC2R 8AH
[PRA request email]
+44 20 3461 4878

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