Wokingham’s MP has welcomed last week’s response by the Government to the Ombudsman’s report into the collapse of Equitable Life, but expressed concern that policyholders may still not receive adequate compensation in a timely manner.
In a statement to the House of Commons last week, the Government acknowledged that maladministration did take place, and that actions taken by public bodies contributed to the failure of Equitable Life. The Government has decided to set up an ex-gratia payments scheme to compensate those who were “disproportionately” impacted by Equitable Life’s collapse. However, we do not yet know how much compensation is to be paid and how many policyholders will receive any money. The Ombudsman suggested in her report that compensation should be made no later than two and a half years after the decision to grant payment has been made, but the Government has said it expects the timetable will be “considerably longer” than this.
In a letter to Wokingham constituents who lost out as a result of Equitable Life’s collapse, John Redwood has said: “In my view there was regulatory failure and compensation should be paid to all losers as soon as possible. The Government’s reply does not go as far as we might have liked but it does represent progress”.
“I wish to see Equitable Life policyholders get the compensation they deserve and hope the Government will do all it can to act swiftly. I will continue to press them on this on behalf of all those who have written to me outline their own experiences of how they lost out at the hands of this inexcusable regulatory failure”.
January 20, 2009
Surely this government (and even more the EU) have a lamentable record of listening to their own watchdogs and whistle blowers?
So much for Gordon Brown’s Good Samaritan image…..