Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much of the £625 million allocated for compensating Equitable Life with-profits annuity holders has been spent up to and including 2024-25; and how much was originally forecast to be spent on a (a) cash and (b) discounted basis.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Conservative and Liberal Democrat Coalition 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. Annual annuity payments to the over 17,000 eligible WPAs amounted to £20m in 2025.