Equitable Life policyholders will have to wait another three months before they find out how much compensation they will receive, the government announced today (22 July).

Policyholders will finally see compensation following the completion of John Chadwick’s report into the life insurer.

The government said the scheme would be a significant spending commitment and would need to be considered together with other spending decisions.

Funding available for the scheme will be announced at the government’s spending review on 20 October. It said it will also be listening to interested parties, ahead of the decision on how much will be allocated to the scheme.

MP Mark Hoban, financial services secretary to the Treasury, said the Chadwick's report was an ‘important building block’ to help the government understand how maladministration had caused the losses.
 
Hoban said, ‘For almost a decade, Equitable Life policyholders have fought for a just resolution in relation to losses suffered as a result of regulatory failure.’
 
A bill has been introduced to enable payment of compensation and an independent commission has also been formed.
 
The commission consists of Financial Services Authority board member Brian Pomeroy, Bradford & Bingley board member John Tattersall and Financial Ombudsman non-executive director John Howard.
 
The trio has been tasked with overseeing the design of the payment scheme for affected policyholders.