Thank goodness for campaigners.
What would we do without these splendid people who rail against financial injustice – often when either the ‘establishment’ or powerful corporate entities do all they can to stop them in their tracks.
Think Equitable Members Action Group, a group of policyholders who in the 2000s campaigned for financial justice for the million victims of the Equitable Life scandal.
And think Pensions Action Group, a band of passionate people who in the early 2000s campaigned for financial justice to be handed out to those who lost a big chunk of their work's pension when their employer went bust, leaving an under-funded pension scheme in place.
Although neither EMAG nor PAG fully got the compensation they campaigned for, they achieved outcomes that would not have happened without their tireless work.
Today, there is no more splendid example of such campaigning than that led by the fearless Alan Bates. He has dedicated a big chunk of his life to getting justice for sub-postmasters wrongly accused of stealing from the Post Office, when all along the disappearing funds were a result of a computer system (Horizon) that was not fit for purpose.
Slowly, this monumental wrong is being addressed; although the compensation will never make up for the pain (and deaths) it caused. As for the perpetrators of this wicked witch hunt against sub-postmasters, I imagine they will never have to atone properly for their sins.
Yet there are currently other campaigners who are also doing great work. Yes, it might not be as significant as that done by Bates, but important all the same. Their efforts should be acknowledged.
For example, I met a two campaigners a couple of weeks ago (John Bachtler and Mark Lauterberg) who three years ago were instrumental in getting a banking hub installed in the community of Cambuslang in South Lanarkshire.
Maybe I’m going a little soft in my old age, but I shed a tear or three as they told me about the work they had done, and the battles they had fought, to get the hub (a community bank) installed. I was humbled in their presence.
All the banks have long fled Cambuslang, a town that has its challenges – stemming primarily from the impact of massive deindustrialisation in the local area and social deprivation.
Here are two individuals, I thought when I met them, who without payment have fought to keep their community’s fabric intact. They have done so because they love and passionately care about Cambuslang.
Their tireless campaigning has reaped its rewards.
The hub they helped establish is now an essential part of Cambuslang’s high street and is being used by a mix of local businesses and residents. Steadily, the number of people trickling through the former butcher shop’s doors is increasing.
In time, Bachtler and Lauterberg hope to make the hub part of a bigger community space incorporating the local credit union, a debt counselling service (debt, sadly, is a big issue in Cambuslang) and a library (the council library is being axed).
Given their extraordinary energy, I am sure they will get their wish. As for the hub they helped create, it is now being cloned across the country in towns that all the banks have deserted.
I also believe the campaigning work being done by the Philips Trust Action Group borders on the magnificent.
For the past year or so, members of this group have piled the pressure on several building societies to provide compensation to those customers who lost money because of being introduced to third-party will writing and trust fund services through the branch networks.
Their tireless campaigning has reaped its rewards.The initial providers were the Will Writing Company and the Family Trust Corporation (both part of Estate Planning Group).
But the real problems occurred when Philips Trust Corporation came on the scene to look after the assets of customers previously watched over by FTC. When Philips Trust subsequently went into administration, it soon became obvious that customers’ assets had been grossly mismanaged (and that’s being polite) and that little remained of them.
Until recently, the building societies, which received commission payments for introducing customers to Estate Planning Group, have largely washed their hands of the £138mn scandal.
But the brilliant campaigning of the action group – for example, its shrewd use of local newspapers to highlight what has happened to customers and its attendance at recent building society annual general meetings – has paid off. On Thursday, Leeds, Newcastle and Nottingham announced a generous compensation deal.
I’ve spoken to several key members of the action group – many one step removed from the scandal because they fought on behalf of elderly parents. Like the Bates, Bachtlers and Lauterbergs of this country, they are in my mind real heroes.
We should salute them until the cows come home.
Jeff Prestridge is group wealth and personal finance editor of DMGT
