Fabian Hamilton has renewed his call for fuller compensation for Equitable Life policyholders, but the pensions minister told MPs that the government has no plans to reopen the scheme.
The Leeds North East MP secured a Commons debate in which he argued that people affected by regulatory maladministration had not received full redress.
The government-recognised relative losses totalled £4.1 billion. A compensation scheme received about £1.5 billion, with eligible non-annuitants generally paid 22.4 per cent of their calculated losses while eligible with-profits annuitants received full compensation through annual payments.
Hamilton cited an Equitable Members Action Group estimate that about £171 million of allocated funds remained unspent as of May 2025. He asked ministers to clarify the figure and use any genuine surplus to support policyholders who had not received full redress.
He also highlighted around 10,000 people who bought with-profits annuities before September 1992 and were excluded from the main scheme.
Pensions minister Torsten Bell said payments totalled just under £1.4 billion by 30 September 2026. He said the scheme had been wound down, with only annual payments to eligible annuitants continuing.
Bell said there were no plans to reopen the previous policy decisions and that funding for the continuing annuity payments remained protected. Hamilton said campaigners would continue to press for compensation in full.
