§ Mr. LetwinTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what are the pension entitlements of widows of service men(a) who retired before March 1973 and (b) who retired after that date; what effect remarriage of a widow under either of these circumstances has upon that widow's entitlement; and if she will make it her policy that such widows receive pensions equal to at least half of the pensions to which their husbands would have been entitled. [651]
§ Mr. SpellarI am replying to this question as it concerns benefits payable to Service widows under the provisions of the Armed Forces Pension Scheme (AFPS).
Under the provisions, a widow of a Serviceman who retired before 31 March 1973 is entitled to a pension equal to one third of her late husband's pension. A Service widow whose husband retired on or after that date is entitled to a pension equal to one half of her husband's pension. On remarriage a Service widow's entitlement to an AFPS pension ceases. However, if the subsequent marriage should end, there is discretion to restore the original Forces Family Pension. 80 per cent. of such applications are successful. In the case of those widows whose husband's death is accepted as attributable to their military service the original Armed Forces pension is automatically restored.
One of the principles which underpin the way in which the major public service schemes operate is that improvements to the scheme should not be retrospective. An extension of widows' pensions to half rate would breach this principle. If improvements to pensions schemes were to include the cost of backdating, it would become very difficult for schemes to afford any worthwhile changes. The AFPS therefore operates on the principle that when Service personnel retire, they and their dependants are entitled only to the provisions of the pension scheme in force at the date of retirement