Prudential told its 4.5 million with-profits policyholders yesterday that they would have to wait another six months to find out whether they could claim a share of its £8.7 billion “inherited estate”.

It came as the insurer unveiled plans to contract out half of its 6,000-strong workforce to Capita, the outsourcing company.

Britain’s second-largest insurer, led by Mark Tucker, the chief executive, said that it would be in a position to decide on what to do with the surplus in its 150-year-old “with-profits sub-fund” during the first half of next year.

With the inherited estate put under review in March, policyholders had been hoping for a decision by the end of this year.

Nick Prettejohn, the chief executive of the Pru’s British unit, pointed out that the insurer had to analyse “millions and millions of policies, all of which have to be understood and modelled”.

He said that Prudential had promised to provide an update on its review by the end of the year and denied that there had been a delay. “We said we would look at whether a reattribution was in the interests of policyholders and shareholders. This is a hugely complicated exercise. We will aim to take a decision during the first half,” he said.

At £77 billion, Prudential’s with-profits fund is more than double that of Aviva, the owner of Norwich Union. When an estate is reattributed, the insurer retains the surplus capital and pays a sum to each policyholder in exchange for forgoing the right to a payout if the fund is closed later. Payouts vary depending on the size and maturity of a policyholder’s fund. Insurers use the capital to back existing policies and underwrite future new customer business.

Barrie Cornes, an analyst for Panmure Gordon, welcomed the Pru’s outsourcing deal with Capita, but was less enthusiastic about the move on a potential payout. “We had expected an announcement detailing the formal appointment of Peter Bloxham as policyholder-advocate and a timetable for attribution by 2009,” he said. “That decision has now been delayed until some time in the first half of 2008, which we take to mean that the earliest an attribution might take place would be 2010.”

Mr Cornes said that the delay was “slightly disappointing”, but called the Capita outsourcing deal “positive”.

Under the plan, which was given a cautious welcome by unions yesterday, Prudential will transfer 1,750 back-office and administrative staff at offices in Reading and Stirling to Capita. A further 1,250 employees in Bombay will also move to Capita. This will leave the Pru with roughly 3,000 staff in the UK and a further 550 in India, Mr Prettejohn said.

The 15-year Prudential deal is worth £772 million to Capita, which recently lost the contract to handle London’s congestion charge administration.

Its £60 million a year in savings form part of the Pru’s efforts to save £195 million annually by 2010. Prudential said this year that it was on course to deliver £115 million so far, leaving the insurer a further £20 million to account for by the end of this year.

Mr Prettejohn said that £11 million had been delivered and the insurer was confident of finding the remaining savings, particularly in the wake of the Capita agreement.

Mr Prettejohn, the former chief executive of Lloyd’s of London, the insurance market, was hired by Mr Tucker last year. Together the two men have been working to turn round Prudential’s UK division, having decided to maintain its domestic operations in March.

Some investors have put pressure on the Pru either to sell the British business or to spin it off to be run separately from the highly profitable Asian arm run by Barry Stowe.

The Capita contract cuts the Pru’s cost per policy by 32 per cent by 2011.

Shareholders welcomed the deal and the shares rose 27½p to 651½p.

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