A cheque from Equiniti to pay my late husband’s care home fees got lost in post

My 83-year-old husband had to go into a care home last year . We were self-funding, but the money soon ran out and, last October, I had to sell shares he had through share administration service Equiniti. I had registered power of attorney. The sale raised £14,720, but the cheque did not arrive, although Equiniti insisted it had been sent. This happened three times. It was made aware of the urgency, and said it would investigate, which could take 15 days. This happened twice. It refused a bank transfer.

Christmas came and went and on Boxing Day my husband died. I informed Equiniti our joint account would have to be closed and a new one opened in my sole name.

At the end of February a cheque arrived in the name of my late husband, so could not be cashed. The same happened the following month. I can’t tell you how destructive this has been. In my husband’s last weeks, I woke each day riddled with anxiety about how I was to pay the care home fees if the cheque didn’t come.
PB, London

Equiniti’s dismal score on review site Trustpilot echoes your frustration. It was given a single star out of five by 64% of reviewers, who report similar tales of delayed payments and abysmal communication.

A cheque arrived in your name in June, a few days before you wrote to me, and you were paid compensation for unspecified failings. You were keen, however, that the firm should receive the publicity it deserves, and I agree. The impact on you as you mourn your husband is painful to read.

Equiniti is convinced it has done nothing wrong. It claims the cheque was issued three times before your husband’s death and that it “went beyond standard procedure” when he died, and reissued the payment in your name along with compensation for “distress caused”.

It omitted to mention that this only happened in June, six months after you were widowed, or that two of the “three” cheques in your husband’s name arrived weeks after it had been told of his death. As for why, in a digital age, it insists on cheques, it says this is required if requests for share sales are received by post as yours was. It adds: “We are continuing to take active steps to improve the end-to-end bereavement experiences with the help of third-party specialists.”

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