Equitable Life Payments Scheme payouts pass 1.06 billion

23 Jun 2015 10:47 AM

Economic Secretary confirms that over £1.06 billion has been paid out to Equitable Life policyholders through the Equitable Life Payments Scheme.

Since the last progress report in February 2015, the scheme has issued payments to a further 6,000 policy holders, meaning that over 902,000 eligible policyholders have now been sent tax-free payments.

The figures are broken down as follows:

• 414,429 payments to individual investors have been issued totalling £563 million
• 37,921 payments to With-Profits Annuitants (WPAs) or their estates have been issued payments by the scheme, totalling £331.2 million
• 450,158 payments totalling £171.3 million have been issued to those who bought their policy through their company pension scheme

The scheme was set up by the government in 2011 to make fair and transparent payments to policyholders who suffered financial losses as a result of government maladministration which occurred in the regulation of Equitable Life.

Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Harriett Baldwin said:

I am proud that the government is tackling the legacy of Equitable Life, helping over 902,000 Equitable Life policy holders with over £1.06 billion worth of payments.