§ Mr. ViggersTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether he has instituted a study into the practicality of allowing war widows who remarry to have an automatic right to the restoration of war widow's pension if they are widowed a second time; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Archie HamiltonWar widow's pensions are a matter for the Department of Social Security. In addition, the occupational pension scheme for the armed forces includes corresponding provision for those widows who are eligible to be awarded a pension which, if the husband's death is accepted as being attributable to his 331W service, is known as an attributable forces family pension. The widow's entitlement to that pension, or any other type of widow's pension payable under the scheme, ceases in the event of remarriage except to the extent that there is any residual entitlement to a guaranteed minimum pension.
The scheme rules do, however, permit a widow's pension to be restored to payment, as a matter of discretion, if the subsequent marriage comes to an end. Normal practice is that restoration would be agreed if a widow is considered to be worse off on second widowhood, without her previous pension, than when she was originally widowed and received that pension.
These arrangements have reecently been reviewed, to consider whether it would be approprite to make restoration of payment automatic upon second widowhood or other termination of the further marriage. It has, however, been concluded that the existing discretionary arrangements, under which service widows can have a reasonable degree of assurance that their pension will be restored if there is a need, but which do not commit the Department to payments from public funds where there is no demonstrable need, should continue to apply.