Scottish equitable pensioners
to share £60 million redress
And thousands of pregnant women can still claim
£190 tax-free.
Aegon Scottish Equitable
If your pension is paid by Scottish Equitable (now known as Aegon) you
could be one of hundreds of thousands of its customers who are owed a total of
£60 million in compensation after the firm failed to get complex calculations
right over a period of 12 years. Scottish Equitable has been fined £2.8 million
by the Financial Services Authority for its failures. The company has agreed to
find the people concerned and pay them up to £60 million in compensation. It
says half of this has already been paid.
However, it had lost track of 200,000 people who moved without telling
the firm their new address. This may not have led to any loss. But 100,000 are
still to be found and if you are a Scottish Equitable pension customer and have
moved it is worth checking that the firm knows where you now live so it can
check if you are owed a share of the £60 million compensation.
The most serious errors were in respect of just over 28,000 customers who
were paid too little pension for a number of years. In addition another 26,000
customers have still not been sent the correct documents about their policy.
They may not be owed any money.
Aegon says
customers need take no action and it will find them and put things right. But it
has got this wrong for 12 years and if you think you may be affected – or want
to report your new address – you can call the Aegon helpdesk on 08456 10 00 21
or send an email to response@aegon.co.uk.
Pregnant
If you are
pregnant, or someone you know is, and will be 25 weeks into it by 31 December
then you can still claim the soon-to-be-abolished Health in Pregnancy Grant. It
is £190, tax-free, and not means-tested. You must also have been given health
advice from a doctor or midwife and live legally in the UK (some civil servants
working abroad and their partners can also qualify).
Find out
more and how to claim at
http://goo.gl/Zmk0l
The grant will no longer be paid to anyone who
reaches the 25th week of pregnancy on 1 January 2011 or later.
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