12: Features on with-profits plans which are very important to plan holders are rarely made clear in any way. For example, valuable guarantees which policy holders could use and benefit from are very often hidden and not revealed.

13: Likewise companies are tying up many plan holders with difficult to interpret figures. For example bonuses are added, which look good to the naked eye, but simultaneously penalties –Market Value Reducers (MVRs) - are applicable, which detract from the position considerably, and the balance between these figures is not clear, sometimes even to the trained eye.

14: MVRs are applied by different companies in different ways, some companies apply them strictly in accordance with the principle of reflecting the underlying value of the assets of the fund, some companies take an arbitrary approach applying the MVRS as “they see fit”.

15: Independent Financial Advisers, helping with-profits plan holders make decisions, have varying practices they apply: some operate on the basis that they will never advise an individual to leave a with-profits plan whilst a steep MVR is in place, some will encourage individuals to move, taking the penalty on the chin, in order to improve returns. This causes a discrepancy in the market because an individual plan holder could get advice which is polarised depending on which adviser they refer to, one may tell them to get out, another may say “stay in”, which confuses the position even further.