The election could be good news for Equitable Life policyholders

Suddenly, there are very few certainties in this election. Amid all that uncertainly, however, we do know that anything other than an outright Labour victory, which looks extremely unikley at the moment, should result in a proper compensation scheme being put in place for Equitable Life policyholders - and quickly too.
Both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats have included a commitment to the policyholders in their manifestos, a level of detail that it is unusual to see at election times and which is down to the vigorous campaign that the policyholders have waged.
The Conservatives say: "We will implement the Ombudsman's recommendations to make fair and transparent payments to Equitable Life policyholders, through an independent payment scheme, for their relative loss as a consequence of regulatory failure".
The Liberal Democrats say: "We will ... reward savers by ... meeting the government's obligations towards Equitable Life policyholders who have suffered loss. We will set up a swift, simple, transparent and fair payment scheme".
Labour doesn't have anything to say on Equitable Life in its manifesto. However, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Liam Byrne, did make a commitment in Parliament last month that the government would respond to the final recommendations of Sir John Chadwick - the former High Court judge charged with devising a compensation scheme, albeit within a very tight government brief - within 14 days of them being published in the middle of May.
Might and end really be in sight?

19 Apr 2010