News that publication of the long awaited report by the Parliamentary Ombudsman into the Equitable Life debacle has been postponed until next summer is yet another insult to the society’s long suffering members.
Campaigners hade been hoping that the report by Ann Abraham would shame the government into paying compensation to the thousands of members who have lost significant portions of their pensions due to the under funding by the insurer of generous guarantees which led to the near collapse of the society.
The postponement until April next year is the third delay to the publication of the final report on the Ann Abraham’s investigations. The current delay is due delays in responses from the Treasury, the Financial Services Authority and other organisations.
Assuming that the report is published in April 2008 (and I wouldn’t be surprised if there are further delays), this will be four years since the Ombudsman’s inquiry first started and eight years since the seriousness of the underfunding at Equitable Life first became apparent.
Ann Abraham herself complained of the excessive detail of the Treasury’s response to the original draft of her report and Paul Braithwaite of the Equitable Life Members’ Action Group accused the Treasury of “throwing the kitchen sink” at it, in order to delay its publication until after Gordon Brown had left the Treasury.
The government’s deliberate delaying tactics in this matter are nothing short of disgraceful, given that the High Court, the European Commission and Ann Abraham have all recommended compensation for the Equitable Life members.
As another group of pension victims – the 125,000 individuals who lost their pensions through the demise of final salary schemes before 2004 – look set to win their long run fight for compensation, the Government should bite the bullet and face up to its responsibilities towards the equally deserving Equitable Life members.
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