Endowment projected values

I have 3 endowments with Friends Provident ( although originally taken out with London & Manchester). These were taken out between 1986 &

1988 and are all for 25 years. Up until this year all were on track to cover what they were supposed to, using the 4% growth projections given in the statements. I realise that even 4% may be an unrealistic figure. What I do not understand is that this projected final figure has been reduced by 20% in 2 years. For one policy the 4% projection in Nov 2002 gave £40,000 now it is £32,000 - this is to cover a £33,000 mortgage. In my simplistic way I would have thought that the minimum reduction in final projection would be 4% per year - but this is obviously not the case. Could anyone explain this to me.

As a secondary question - what now encourages companys to add reasonable bonuses ( if any at all) - it used to be so that they could attract new endowment business, with customers looking at past results - but surely these are not now sold in any quantity?

thanks.