§ 38. Mr. Peter Freemanasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the amount of pension 303W under his regulations that a widow of a retired police officer will receive where the marriage took place after retirement from the service; and in view of the fact that she will then automatically be deprived of any pension under the National Health Insurance on such marriage what arrangements have been made for her provision.
§ Mr. EdeThe Police Pensions Act, 1921, provides that a widow's pension shall not be payable from police funds unless the marriage took place before the husband retired on pension, and as police officers are excepted from compulsory insurance under the present Contributory Pensions Acts, the widow also could not ordinarily receive a widow's pension under those Acts. Police officers will, however, become insured under the National Insurance Acts next July, and the widows of such insured police officers, whenever the marriage took place, will be eligible for exactly the same benefits under those Acts as the widows of other insured persons.