It is now nearly ten years since newspapers first reported Equitable Life’s refusal to honour guaranteed annuity rates that had been sold to some of its 1.5m savers. In this period, this without-profits fund has cut bonuses and imposed exit penalties on leavers, while policyholder numbers have dropped to 500,000.
And, in 2008, the Government broke a series of promises regarding compensation payments. Chancellor Alistair Darling even told the House of Commons on October 8 that the Government would report on Equitable Life ‘shortly’.
By the time of the debate about the Queen’s Speech on December 3, even Gordon Brown seemed to be ashamed of the apparently endless delays over this matter. He promised to respond to the Parliamentary Ombudsman’s report before Christmas. Another deadline missed!
Sadly, about 30,000 Equitable Life policyholders have died since the House of Lords effectively closed this company down.
Surely, we should soon be hearing some good news about compensation for the surviving unfortunate annuity holders and their families.
