§ Lord Lester of Herne Hillasked Her Majesty's Government:
What are the current terms and conditions relating to survivor benefits in the pension schemes for Members of Parliament and civil servants; and how those benefits are funded. [HL438]
§ Lord Williams of MostynMPs' pensions are paid out of the Parliamentary Contributory Pension Fund (PCPF), which is a managed fund with income from investments and member contributions. The Exchequer makes the equivalent of an employer's contribution, which is set independently by the Government Actuary's Department.
In cases of death in service, the pension payable to a legally married spouse is equal to the Member's salary for the first three months, and then at a rate of 5/8ths of the deceased Member's pension payable at age 65. The provisions are the same on death in retirement, but if the Member dies within five years of retirement, the spouse's pension is paid at the rate of the Member's pension for the remainder of those five years before reducing to 5/8ths. The regulations contain a provision to curtail the pension of a widow/widower of a deceased Member on remarriage or cohabitation.
100WAIn July last year the House voted, among other things, to consider extending survivor pensions to unmarried adult dependants and continuing survivor pensions if a spouse remarries. However, these two measures were not covered by the statutory instrument introduced in July of this year on implementing the other decisions of the House on Members' pensions. It would require a further statutory instrument to give effect to these two provisions.
The Civil Service pension scheme traditionally provided pensions for surviving partners legally married to the scheme member at the time of the member's death. On 1 October 2002 a new Civil Service pension scheme was introduced, which, among other improvements, extended the arrangement to unmarried partners of either gender for life. The entire cost of this change is met by scheme members through higher contributions.