Nuneaton MP Marcus Jones has urged local people who had pensions with Equitable Life to ensure they are not missing out on compensation.

The Government announced during the Budget in March 2013 that it would make ex-gratia payments of £5,000 to Equitable Life policyholders who bought their annuity before 1992, with £10,000 pledged to those pensioners in receipt of Pension Credits.

The Equitable Life Payments Scheme was set up by the coalition in 2011 to pay up to £1.5 billion to victims of the Equitable Life scandal, and £600 million has already been paid out. But many people have moved without giving their new address and an alarming number seem to be unaware that they are entitled to a payment. The Treasury is planning to shut down the scheme in 2015, with many pensioners at risk of remaining unpaid.

As of 30 October 2014, the Scheme had issued payments totalling £990.5 million to 887,061 policyholders. The Scheme has published a further progress report on gov.uk at: www.gov.uk/equitable-life-payment-scheme.

Commenting, Marcus said: “It is worth noting that there is no legal obligation for the Government to make either of these payments but it is absolutely the right thing to do. I have stated before that I am proud that the Conservatives in Government set aside £1.5 billion to help so many of my constituents who had been let down when Equitable Life failed.

“It took nearly a decade for the last Labour Government to own up to their responsibilities. We acted immediately. This will make a huge difference to the many older people who were affected in Nuneaton.

“Whilst it has not been a perfect solution for all policyholders, I am pleased that the Government has been committed to supporting the victims worst affected by this scandal, which has badly affected many people’s retirement income and undermined people’s confidence in saving.”

“The Scheme has gone to significant lengths to trace eligible policyholders and remains committed to tracing and paying as many eligible policyholders as possible. I would encourage my constituents who think they may be eligible to contact the Scheme on 0300 0200 150. The Scheme is able to verify the identity of most policyholders by telephone, which means any payment due can usually be received within two weeks.”