Equitable Life

Duncan Baker Excerpts

Thursday 21st January 2021 Commons Chamber

[Duncan Baker (North Norfolk) (Con) [V]]

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) for his tireless campaign. I do not think that anybody participating in this debate could fail to be moved by the stories that we have heard today. As one of my constituents said:

“As time passes and age increases, the volume of our voices are decreasing, too, so we need to keep the volume of our situation loud and clear, and look to you being one of those who will raise yours.”

Quite literally, we have heard time and again of good, honest, decent people who, after saving diligently all their lives, have had that ruined. What is striking is that this is not just about a select few or the better off, but everyone in society being affected. A total of 900,000 people affected by maladministration received just 22% of their entitlement. We know the story, and we know that it is wrong. As the MP for North Norfolk, where many people have enjoyed, and are enjoying, their retirement, I am staggered by just how many constituents have been affected by this terrible situation. I have 2,800 policyholders and dependants in my area alone. Listening to their stories is heart breaking. Some have even given their permission for me to use their names. 

Take Terry, who is 82. He retired as a plumber at 60 when his knees were too bad to continue working. He started saving for his retirement in 1979, diligently putting away, but today all those years of saving amount to virtually nothing given the collapse of Equitable. Terry told me that he cannot afford holidays and has not had a holiday abroad for 20 years. How can it be fair that we ask people in society to take responsibility for themselves, good people like Terry save for a pension, and then, through no fault of those people’s own, the pension company and the regulator fail in their duty to protect them?

We know that the Government accepted in 2010 that the victims’ losses were in the order of £4.3 billion, but the £1.3 billion set aside has not gone far enough for those constituents, such as mine, who are having their happy retirement wrecked. It is pretty clear not only that Equitable had been misleading customers with over-the-top returns and promises, but that the regulator had failed to protect customers, knowing quite well that the accumulated pension pots would not be worth what customers expected.

Let me quickly conclude with a heartbreaking story of another of my constituents. He too saved for years, but his pension is just a third of what it should have been, and it contracts every year. I will not reveal his name, but of all the stories, this encapsulates the dire situation that so many are left in. He said:

“I am sad that my wife died in 2007 but perversely, glad she hasn’t lived to see that all the sacrifices she made to allow our pension pot to grow have all been in vain. She gave up many of the more enjoyable things in life because I said we would benefit in retirement. I could cry when I think about it. But I live in the hope that one day soon justice will be done and the government will pay its debts. I very nearly didn’t make it a few weeks ago when the doctors thought I was to become another victim of Covid19. But I came through the night to everyone’s surprise and now I just want to have what is mine and live a few years longer and enjoy them.”