§ Joyce QuinTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what his Department's estimate is of the cost of extending service pension rights to the second spouses of deceased servicemen who completed their period of service prior to 1976; [88954]
399W(2) how many representations he has received concerning his Department's policy of refusing to transfer pension rights to the second spouses of servicemen who completed their periods of service prior to 1976; [88953]
(3) what assumptions concerning survival rates of spouses are made by his Department when estimating the cost of financing the transfer of pension rights to spouses after the death of a serviceman. [88955]
§ Dr. MooniePost-retirement widow and widower pensions (PRWP) were introduced as a requirement of the Social Security Pensions Act 1975. Provision was made in the Armed Forces Pension Scheme (AFPS) for the payment of pensions to widow(er)s of service pensioners who married (or remarried) after retirement, but this change benefited only the widows of those giving service on or after 6 April 1978, and the widowers of those giving service on or after 6 April 1989. Only service on or after those dates was taken into account when calculating the level of pension. Against this background, it would cost in the order of £50 million to extend PRWP's to all current and deferred AFPS pensioners. This would be a one-off cost.
It has been the long-standing policy of successive Governments that discretionary changes to improve the benefits from public service pensions schemes should be implemented from a current date for future service only. There is no distinction between servicemen and public sector employees with regard to the fact that the PRWP only applies to those with service on or after 6 April 1978, or 6 April 1989. To extend the post-retirement marriage concession to survivors of members of all public service occupational schemes would cost between £300 million and £500 million.
There is no requirement for the Ministry of Defence to hold data on the number of representations it has received on this issue and the information could be provided only at disproportionate cost. The assessment of the costs of making the 1978 and 1989 changes retrospective was a broad actuarial estimate, carried out by the Government Actuary's Department. The assumptions used in making this assessment were derived from general UK population mortality statistics, supplemented by mortality experience analysis within the AFPS and other pension schemes. Detailed calculations have not been carried out due to the lack of readily available data. Full calculations could be carried out only at disproportionate cost.