Equitable life scandal resolution to follow PPI
Any question of avoidance manoeuvres should be put to rest if the Treasury advertises cut-off date now.
09:19 04 August 2013
The Equitable Life scandal is creating additional concern lately due to the lacklustre advertising for those who were affected to claim their money. Unlike the PPI issue solution, there are still approximately over 660,000 payments to make.
The Commons Public Accounts Committee is encouraging the Treasury to advertise the cut-off date as soon as possible instead of waiting for September as the Treasury originally planned. If the Treasury waits, there may be quite a few people who aren’t able to file their claims in time to receive the payment.
While the PPI scandal had many people concerned, it is fair to say it has been dealt with effectively and there has been advertisements about how to claim. It is safe to say that the Equitable Life scandal should follow the same principle in dealing with the current issue.
- Education was pivotal to resolving the issues generated by the PPI scheme. For successful and complete resolution the Treasury should seek to educate people about the possibilities, process, and cut-off date for the issue.
- Finding free help to process claims should be well-advertised so people who might have greater difficulty understanding or completing the process adequately will still be able to receive the funds which are due to them, just as there was sufficient assistance to resolve the PPI issue.
- Various avenues should be available to those who need to file claims such as paper forms, via phone, as well as internet-based filing. These also need to be adequately advertised to ensure people are aware of the process.
- Cut-off times to file the claims should be very well advertised since lack of advertising could be seen as way to avoid repaying what is owed to people. Lack of proper advertising to generate the necessary claims could not only prevent people from obtaining much-needed funds, but could be construed as dishonest.