The Equitable Life Payment Scheme will close on 31 December 2015, the government has announced, stating that its final attempt to trace policyholders who are still due a payment has concluded.
This follows an appeal in June for Equitable Life policyholders owed compensation to come forward, explaining that there were about 136,000 policyholders who are still due a payment.
The scheme, which began making payments in 2011, has paid out over £1bn to around 87 per cent of eligible policyholders.
It was set up by the government to make “fair and transparent payments” to those who suffered financial losses as a result of government “maladministration” which occurred in the regulation of Equitable Life.
As announced in the Summer Budget, additional payments would be made to policyholders in receipt of pension credit who received a lump sum payment under the scheme. The amount of the additional payment will be equivalent to the 22.4 per cent of relative loss payment already received.
At the time, chancellor George Osborne said: “We are going to use the remaining funds available in our Equitable Life Payment Scheme, as it closes, to double the support we give to those policy holders on pension credit who most need this extra help.”
donia.o’loughlin@ft.com
