Compensate All Equitable Life Victims, Not Just Complainants

12.00.00am GMT Wed 12th Mar 2003

The Treasury Select Committee today published a dossier of papers from the bodies investigating the Equitable Life scandal which demonstrate the muddle involved in the four different investigations taking place.

Norman Lamb MP, Liberal Democrat Shadow Treasury Minister, condemned the 'patchwork' of different investigations which can only confuse the victims of the scandal and could lead to some people being compensated while others lose out.

Mr Lamb said:

"There is a high degree of understandable confusion amongst policyholders about how to protect their interests."

"So far, comparatively few Equitable Life members have put in official complaints. Just 3,800 complaints have been received by the Financial Ombudsman Service, and only 12 by the Complaints Commissioner. These figures are small beer compared with the vast numbers of people affected."

"It is clear that if compensation proves to be payable, the only fair way of paying it is to do so to everyone who has lost out through Equitable Life, rather than restrict it to people who have gone through a particular complaints procedure."

ENDS

The Complaints Commissioner, Rosemary Radcliffe, has said that "It would, in my view be inappropriate to offer compensation only to complainants who happen to have selected a particular avenue of complaint."