§ Sir W. Anstruther-Grayasked the Minister of Defence how it is proposed to deal with the pensions of retired members of the Services and their widows, to correspond with the increase for civil pensioners contained in the Pensions (increase) Bill.
§ Mr. SandysThe existing Prerogative Instruments will be amended to give retired members of the Services and their widows terms corresponding with those of the new Pensions (Increase) Bill. Pensions under each of the Service pensions codes will he increased (if the pensioner is 60 or over, or otherwise qualified) by the same percentage as would apply to a civil pension beginning at the date at which the code in question took effect.
197WSimilarly, Service widows (if 40 or over or otherwise qualified) will receive increases calculated from the date when their pension code came into effect which, in nearly all cases, was 1st December, 1952. The pensions of Service widows whose widowhood has occurred on or after 4th November, 1958, and who are in receipt of pension under the new scheme of Family Pensions, as announced in Cmnd. 675, will be recalculated as though the husband had been awarded pension increase under the present scheme.