§ Dr. Julian LewisTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on service pensions for war widows who have subsequently remarried. [141825]
§ Dr. MoonieI will assume that the hon. Member refers to those widows who have been awarded a War Widow's Pension by the DSS War Pensions Agency and who have, in addition, been awarded an attributable forces family pension under the Armed Forces Pension Scheme (AFPS). Attributable pensions for widows and widowers of ex-Service personnel were introduced to the AFPS in 1973.
19WThe Defence and Social Security Secretaries announced, on 20 July 2000, that widow and widowers in receipt of an attributable forces family pension are to retain their pension if they remarry or cohabit. These changes, took effect from 31 October. Previously, an attributable widow's pension was withdrawn on remarriage or cohabitation, although it would have been automatically restored on second widowhood or at the end of a period of cohabitation. Those widows or widowers who had already remarried (before 31 October), and had their attributable pension withdrawn, were not included in the change. Those in receipt of a DSS War Widows' Pension or a non-attributable widows or widowers' pension were also not affected by the change; their pensions will still cease on remarriage or cohabitation.
The question whether widows who had already remarried should have their pensions restored was considered; however, it was decided not to include them because those women had chosen to remarry in the full knowledge that their pension would cease. Furthermore, successive Governments had held fast to the principle that improvements to public sector pension schemes are not applied retrospectively because the cost of doing so would mean it would be extremely difficult to introduce any improvements for current members of the armed forces.