§ Baroness Jegerasked Her Majesty's Government:
What assistance they propose for widowed fathers of young children whose deceased wives have fully paid-up national insurance contributions.
§ Baroness TrumpingtonLone parents, whether male or female, can receive one-parent benefit, currently £4.55 a week. Widowed fathers, like other lone parents, are also entitled to claim supplementary benefit housing benefit and Family Income Supplement under specially relaxed conditions. Entitlement to these benefits does not depend on a contribution record. Additionally, widowers may in certain circumstances use their wives' national insurance record to improve their own entitlement to retirement pension, and if they were incapable of work at or within 13 weeks of being widowed they may also be able to use their wives' record to acquire invalidity benefit.
The current Social Security Bill proposes that widowers with children and older widowers should inherit half the guaranteed minimum pension from a salary-related contracted-out occupational pension scheme, and the proceeds of the minimum contribution from a defined contribution scheme or a personal pension scheme.