Have Equitable Life members got a fair deal?
After Equitable Life was pushed to the brink of administration in 2000, their members, many of whom lost all of their pension savings with the company, have been fighting to get compensation from the Government. The Financial Services Authority (FSA) was held responsible for the poor regulation that allowed Equitable to fail. The Parliamentary Ombudsman carried out two detailed investigations into Equitable Life’s collapse, and recommended that its members be compensated with a payout of between £4bn and £4.8bn for their losses. However, the most recent report under the previous Labour government suggested a payout of between £400 and £500m. The new deal triples that sum, but falls far short of the original recommended payout.
