The Equitable Life Payment Scheme (ELPS) was set up by the Government in 2011 to make fair and transparent payments to policy holders affected by the near total collapse of the insurer Equitable Life. The scheme was due to close in April 2014 but was extended until at least the middle of 2015 to give eligible policyholders time to make a claim.

Since the last update in October 2014, a further 9,000 policy holders have received tax-free payments from the ELPS. In total, the Government has now issued payments to over 896,000 eligible policy holders out of a pool of 1 million affected policy holders. The ELPS has been working with other Government departments and liaising with group scheme trustees to try and locate as many eligible policy holders as possible.

Commenting on the latest update, the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Andrea Leadsom said:

'I am pleased to announce that this Government has now paid out over £1 billion to Equitable Life policyholders. While we’ve had to take many tough decisions on spending during this Parliament, we’ve been determined to do what we can to tackle the legacy of Equitable Life. And that’s why I’m proud to confirm we have helped almost 900,000 Equitable Life policyholders with over £1 billion worth of payments.'