Honor Blackman urges Government to make payout

The former Avengers star and Bond girl accused the Government of "dragging its feet" for failing to pay out a single penny, 19 months after the Parliamentary Ombudsman first called on it to compensate Equitable Life policyholders.

She joined the Equitable Members Action Group in calling on the Treasury to pay out 214m to with-profits annuity holders, whose policies were recently transferred to Prudential. The Equitable Members Action Group said the money, which is the equivalent of two years' worth of pensions for the annuity holders and would average around 4,400 per policyholder, could then be deducted from any final compensation payments the Government eventually made.

It said the average age of these policyholders was 79, and thousands had already died without receiving any redress.

The group also wants the Government to make interim payments to the surviving partners and families of the estimated 10,000 annuitants who have already died.

Ms Blackman said: "The Treasury has been dragging its feet at every turn. It is now 19 months since the Parliamentary Ombudsman's report was put before Parliament and yet we are still waiting for a single penny to be paid.

"Everybody who has a policy with Equitable Life has been badly affected, but for the annuitants time is running out.

"Many have seen their pensions fall by more than 50 per cent with the prospect of further falls to come."

Parliamentary Ombudsman Ann Abraham called on the Government to set up an independent tribunal to calculate compensation for policyholders after finding 10 instances of maladministration by regulators and Whitehall officials in relation to Equitable in the period leading up to December 2001.

The Government rejected some of her findings of maladministration, but the Equitable Members Action Group later won a High Court victory when it was ruled that the Treasury had been wrong to reject certain specific findings by the Parliamentary Ombudsman.

Equitable Life was brought to its knees in 2000 when it lost a legal battle in the House of Lords over the rights of its policyholders, forcing it to close to new business.

Worth 26bn in its prime, it now has around 200,000 with-profits policyholders and a 5.5bn with-profits fund.