Actress joins call for equitable payments to be made

19 February 2010

Actress Honor Blackman has joined the Equitable Members Action Group (EMAG) in calling on the government to make tax-free payments to the oldest of the people currently awaiting compensation payment following the financial problems at Equitable Life.

EMAG has asked ministers to make the £214 million payment which will see a number of trustees, who lost almost half of their pension income as a result of the companies difficulties, receive an average of £4,400.

Conservative party leader David Cameron has also joined the debate, the Telegraph reported.

At a recent Cameron Direct event, the election hopeful said: "The Government has put it off and put it off and in a very sick way, I think, they're waiting for people to die."

"If we win the election, we're going to sort out Equitable Life very early on."

Concerns about the way in which Equitable Life's trustees have been treated could see a number of people taking out additional retirement funding plans to ensure they are comfortable in later life.

Policies such as equity release could help to boost a pensioner's income with money taken from the value of their home.