§ Mr. FieldTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many public service widows currently receive a pension based on(a) one half of their husband's pension entitlement and (b) one-third of that entitlement. [95516]
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§ Mr. Andrew SmithThe major public service pension schemes do not hold information disaggregated on this basis, with the exception of the Teachers' Pension Scheme which can identify some 3,500 widows receiving a pension at one half rate; 60 at one third rate; and 31,700 receiving a widow's pension at the rate of some other fraction of their husband's pension. A widow's pension at a rate of between half and one third would result if the scheme member's service straddled the point at which public service pension schemes raised the rate of widow's pension from one third to one half, in 1972, and the member did not pay the maximum additional contributions fully to upgrade the entitlement in respect of previous service.