Nuneaton’s MP Marcus Jones has welcomed the progress being made by Government in relation to the Equitable Life Payment Scheme, which was set up to compensate those who lost money on their pension investments with Equitable Life.

The insurance company came close to collapse in 2000, creating one of the UK's biggest ever financial scandals.

The Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Sajid Javid MP, confirmed in Parliament on 13 May that as of 30 April 2013, the scheme has made payments totalling £604 million and has informed 85% of eligible individual policyholders the value of any payment due.

The scheme has now contacted all eligible individual policyholders it can trace. Any holders of an individual non with-profits annuity or with-profits annuity who have not been contacted by the scheme should call the scheme on 0300 0200 150 to confirm the eligibility of their policy and be advised of the next steps they should take.

The scheme has also started making payments to those who bought their Equitable Life policy through a company pension scheme, with circa 65,000 payments already made to this group. These payments will continue over the coming months.

The scheme has also confirmed that the estates of some 8,000 deceased policyholders have been paid and the process of identifying, tracing and contacting the estates of deceased policyholders continues.

Commenting on the progress, Marcus said: “When I was first elected to Parliament one of my first speeches was to stand up for Equitable Life policyholders from Nuneaton who had been failed for many years by the Labour Government who refused to deal with the issue for nearly a decade.

“Whilst it’s 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. I am now aware that the scheme will begin the process of closing down and shutting to new claims later this year.

“I would therefore strongly urge any policyholders in Nuneaton who have not been contacted or received payment to contact the scheme on 0300 0200 150 as a matter of urgency.”