PENSION RIGHTS FOR "POST-RETIREMENT" WIDOWS

Early day motion 528, tabled 17 January 2005 by Nick Harvey (Liberal Democrat). Signed by 65 members.

That this House is dismayed at the plight of thousands of widows of public service workers, who lose out on their widow's pension simply because they married the pension scheme member after his retirement; welcomes the acknowledgment of post-retirement widows' rights in the 1978 State Earnings Related Pension Scheme and subsequently in all contracted-out schemes; calls for this improvement in post-retirement widows' rights to be applied retrospectively in respect of the service of public sector pension scheme members prior to 1978; notes that this anomaly affects, among others, those in the Local Government Pension Scheme, the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme, the Teachers' Pension Scheme, the Fire Service Pension Scheme, the Armed Forces Pension Scheme, the Police Service Pension Scheme and the NHS Pension Scheme; notes however that the Parliamentary Pension Scheme is not affected; and urges the Government to bring forward amendments to public sector pension schemes, so as to give equal rights to all widows regardless of when they married their late husband or when he worked in the public service.

Signatures by party: Labour 33, Liberal Democrat 16, DUP 5, Labour/Co-operative 3, UUP 3, Conservative 2, Plaid Cymru 2, Scottish National Party 1.