A decade on: pain continues for Equitable savers

It is more than 10 years since Equitable Life went bust, but half a million policyholders with the company are yet to be told details about the compensation they have been promised by the Government.

Paul Weir of the Equitable Members Action Group said this week that 505,000 members of group pension schemes are still waiting to hear anything at all.

Last year, the Treasury minister, Mark Hoban, promised that: "For those receiving a payment in year two or three of the scheme (ie June 2012 onwards), the scheme will write to these policyholders before June 2012, explaining when they can expect to receive their payment and its value."

Mr Weir said the Treasury appears to be well off target, leaving fed-up Equitable Life policyholders feeling even more let down by the Government.

"If we are to believe Mr Hoban's promises, then something like another 250,000 policyholders will need to receive a detailed statement of payment by the end of June," Mr Weir said.

"But it looks as though the scheme is woefully behind and we suspect that they will fail to hit their target by miles."

There has been no news on progress on compensation payouts from the Treasury. But thousands of policyholders have received letters asking them to verify their address.

Mr Weir said that is a stalling tactic which "will waste millions of pounds in postage and printing".