§ 4.59 p.m.
§ LORD WINDLESHAMMy Lords, I beg to move that the Police Pensions (Amendment) Regulations 1971, a draft of which was laid before your Lordships 1022 on March 4, be approved. These Regulations amend the Police Pensions Regulations 1971 by easing the conditions under which the pensions of certain police widows may be increased at the discretion of the police authority. Before 1948 police officers did not contribute to the State pension scheme. As a result, certain police widows are not entitled to contributory national insurance pensions. It has been the policy since 1948 that police authorities should have discretion to increase police pensions payable to these widows, so as to secure that they are not worse off than they would have been had their husbands' contributions qualified them for these national insurance pensions.
Entitlement to a national insurance pension, which is at present £5 a week, is subject to a number of conditions. One of these is that the marriage must have lasted for three years, and another that the widow had attained the age of 50, either at the date of her husband's death or at the time she ceased to receive a widowed mother's allowance. Under the National Insurance (Old Persons' and Widows' Pensions and Attendance Allowance) Act 1970, the stipulation for national insurance purposes about the length of the marriage is done away with, and the condition of having reached the age of 50 is lowered to the age of 40. But, at the same time, for the widow who benefits through the relaxed conditions, her national insurance pension will be the normal £5 a week scaled down by 7 per cent. for each year by which her age was under 50 at the material time. The Draft Police Pensions Regulations now before the House make corresponding relaxations in the conditions subject to which discretionary increases in police widows' pensions will be payable. They are expressed to come into operation on April 5, 1971, the same day as the corresponding provisions for national insurance become effective.
Finally, my Lords, I may say that the Draft Regulations have been agreed by the Police Council for the United Kingdom, on which the local authority and police staff associations are represented. I beg to move.
§ Moved, That the Draft Police Pensions (Amendment) Regulations 1971, laid before the House on March 4, be approved.—(Lord Windlesham.)
1023§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, I simply want to thank the noble Lord for explaining the purpose of this Order so clearly and to say that this is one of the occasions when we are very glad indeed to support the Government. We are glad that it has been found possible to make these relaxations.