Government accepts Equitable claims
A High Court ruling which could allow thousands more Equitable Life policyholders to claim compensation after its near collapse has been agreed by the Government.
Treasury secretary Liam Byrne has told MPs that the ruling has been accepted "in the interests of speed and the wish to act fairly for policyholders".
He said that ex-gratia payments for policyholders who suffered "disproportionate impact" will be extended from July 1995 back to July 1991.
The Equitable Members Action Group (Emag), which represents 21,000 people who lost their savings, says that allowing thousands more policyholders to claim payments is a crucial victory.
Two senior judges ruled that the Government had been wrong to reject specific findings by parliamentary ombudsman Ann Abraham in her report last year.
These include failures by the DTI and FSA, which were advised by the Government's Actuary Department (GAD) to take appropriate action to prevent the losses.
Ms Abraham said those failures were maladministration that had caused injustice to policyholders, thus entitling them to compensation.