RegulationOct 9 2013

Government extends Eq Life payment scheme

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The government is extending the Equitable Life payment scheme to mid-2015 to maximise the number of policyholders who will be able to receive the payments they are due.

In an announcement made today (9 October), the government said it wants to ensure as many policyholders as possible receive the payment they are due “for the injustice they suffered”. The scheme had previously been due to close in April 2014.

Through the scheme, which the government set up in 2011, policy holders have already received £734m in payments.

The last ELPS progress report showed that the government paid out £1m a day to policyholders (£130m paid in 122 days between progress reports) and payments continue to be made.

The government added that because the address information the ELPS received from Equitable Life itself is up to 20 years old or non-existent in some cases, the scheme is unable to trace some policyholders. Over 400,000 policies were supplied without contact addresses.

The government said it will shortly run a national advertising scheme to encourage any eligible policyholders who have not been contacted by the scheme to come forward, and claim any payment due to them.

This work will complement the existing tracing methods the scheme uses, which include electronic address checking (of credit histories, the electoral roll and the phone book) and writing to the last known address the scheme holds.

These measures will all help to maximise the number of people who receive their payment from ELPS, the government said.

Sajid Javid, financial secretary to the Treasury, said: “This government has allocated up to £1.5bn to help the policyholders of Equitable Life who suffered an injustice, with hundreds of thousands of policy holders receiving over £700m in payments since 2011.

“We’ve made strong progress, but we want to maximise the number of people who will eventually receive payments, which is why we are extending the Equitable Life Payment Scheme to mid-2015.”