Equitable Life Payment Scheme: April 2014 progress report
Published 9 April 2014
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1. Summary of payments made
As of 31st March 2014, the scheme has now made payments totalling £901million to 860,972 policyholders. The figures are broken down as follows:
- 405,946 payments to individual investors have been issued totalling £542m..
- 34,440 first payments to With-Profits Annuitants (WPAs) have been issued by the scheme, totalling £64m. Subsequent annual payments totalling £119m have also been made to annuitants. Additionally payments of £20m have been paid to the estates of 2591 deceased annuitants
- 417,995 payments totalling £156m have been paid to those who bought their policy through their company pension scheme
2. Tracing policyholders
The scheme has gone to significant lengths to trace eligible policyholders, and since the last report the scheme has traced over 110,000 policyholders. These efforts mean that over £900million of the £1billion allocated to the first three years of the scheme has now been paid out. This means that the high volumes of automated payments have now been completed. Over the coming months the scheme will be conducting a review of its records to ensure that all the proportionate actions that can be taken to trace and pay policyholders have been completed before it shuts.
Any holders of a policy who believe themselves to be eligible should call the scheme on 0300 0200 150. The scheme can verify the identity of most policyholders on the telephone, which means any payment due can usually be received within 2 weeks.