§ Mr. Arthur Davidsonasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will now amend the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme so that there will be no discrimination in the assessment of awards between widows of public servants and widows of persons privately employed.
§ Mr. CallaghanYes. It is a basic principle of the Scheme that there should be no duplication of payments from public funds and public service pensions cannot, therefore, be entirely disregarded in the assessment of awards to widows. The Secretary of State for Scotland and I have decided, however, to amend the Scheme so that in assessing such awards the Board will take account only of social security benefits and of 80 per cent. of any additional occupational pension (including any gratuity) payable in consequence of death from injury on duty—that is, 80 per cent. of the difference between the pension actually payable and that which would have been payable if death had occurred otherwise than in consequence of injury on duty.
The amendment will require occupational pensions paid to widows by private employers to be treated by the Board in accordance with the same criteria as occupational pensions paid to widows of Public servants. It will be applied to all the relevant compensation awards made to dependants of public servants since the inception of the Scheme.