NORWICH Union policy holders who qualify to vote on the proposal to float the company on the stock exchange have until April 16th to return their voting forms to Norwich Union Life Insurance Society, PO Box 5572, Cardiff Lane, Business Reply, Dublin 2.

The same 150,000 member/policyholders will be liable for free shares in the new company if the vote to go public succeeds.

Policyholders with investment and savings policies like endowment contracts and pensions will receive 300 free shares; non-profit policies such as mortgage protection contracts and term life contracts will receive 150 free shares; shares are expected to be floated on the London stock exchange at between 220p and 265p. The average member is expected to receive £800 worth of shares.

Customers with policies which matured between last October 1st and April 18th, 1997, will not be entitled to free shares, but they will receive a bonus worth 3 per cent of the value of their matured policies as compensation for the shares.

Thousands of policyholders who are part of joint mortgage protection schemes taken out with lenders such as the EBS Building Society and TSB Bank will not be receiving the free shares, Norwich Union has confirmed. As such it is the lender who is considered the Norwich Union member and will be the recipient of a single allotment of shares.

Many policyholders have already made their feelings known to both their lender and Norwich Union, objecting to their disenfranchisement on the grounds that they would have opted for an individual policy if they had known that in a group contract might lead to the loss of benefits such as free shares.

The group policy is a simpler administrative vehicle for the lender and insured but confers no premium reductions for the policyholder.

Norwich Union has set up a telephone helpline to take flotation enquiries on 1850 334444.