Equitable Life Assurance Society: Compensation
The question
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much of the funding allocated for compensating Equitable Life With-Profits Annuitants has been spent up to and including 2024-25; and how much was forecast to be spent on both a cash and discounted basis.
Answered by Torsten Bell
The previous Conservative Government allocated £1.5 billion to the Equitable Life Payment Scheme. Before it ceased operations in 2016, the Scheme had issued £1.12 billion in tax-free payments to nearly 933,000 policyholders. The remainder of the £1.5 billion has been set aside for future payments to the With-Profits Annuitants. Further information is available in the Final Report on the Scheme. (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/equitable-life-payment-scheme-final-report).
The total value of payments made by the Scheme stood at £1.35 bn as of 30 May 2025, and the Scheme is on track to pay out the remainder.
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