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Labour's candidates in Reading are backing the fight by victims of the Equitable Life pensions fiasco for proper compensation.
The Parliamentary Ombudsman recommended compensation in 2008 after finding misregulation and maladministration of the insurance company over a ten year period from 1991, and Anneliese Dodds and Naz Sarkar have pledged to push through the Ombudsman's recommendations if elected.
Anneliese says "This has all dragged on far too long. Some pensioners have been placed into real hardship by the collapse of their incomes, while others are dying without ever seeing their difficulties resolved. The next Parliament should support the Ombudsman and establish an independent tribunal as recommended."
And Naz Sarkar commented, "The Ombudsman system was brought in by a Labour government and has helped many people fight back against maladministration. It is a system we can be proud of and one we should whole-heartedly support."
BACKGROUND NOTE
Equitable Life was the world's oldest provider of annuities. It got into trouble in 2000 and had to close to new business. A large number of investigations including that of Lord Penrose, of a special committee of inquiry of the European Parliament and that by the Parliamentary Ombudsman have concluded that Government regulators should have picked up trouble as far back as 1991 and refused to let the mutual insurer misrepresent its position to savers. After her longest ever investigation the Parliamentary Ombudsman recommended compensation in mid-2008. The government is however still gathering advice on the approach to take after rejecting the Ombudsman's recommendations that a compensation scheme be devised by an independent tribunal. Equitable Members Action Group has estimated that 15 victims are dying every week as HM Treasury delays action.
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