Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, in the context of married women who reach state pension age prior to 6th April 2016, whether it is his Department's policy for a woman who draws a category A state pension prior to her husband reaching pension age and who is widowed after her husband reaches pension age and draws his pension should be automatically assessed at the point of being widowed for a backdated category BL pension in the case where her category A pension is lower than the Category BL rate; and whether a woman over pension age with no entitlement to a category A state pension, and who is widowed after her husband reaches pension age and draws his pension should automatically be assessed at the point of being widowed for a deferred Category BL pension, with her date of claim treated as the date when her late husband first drew his pension.

For married women who reach State Pension age prior to 6th April 2016 the Department’s policy is as follows.

• For those in receipt of a Category A state pension based on their own National Insurance contributions and whose husband became entitled to his state pension on or after 17th March 2008, a Category BL pension will be paid automatically by the Department. There is a LEAP exercise currently underway to identify and correct some historical cases where this did not happen.

• For those in receipt of a Category A pension and whose husband became entitled to his state pension before 17th March 2008, including where someone is widowed, a claim is required in order for the Department to be able to assess entitlement to any Category BL pension.

• Women who have not made a claim for and are not receiving a state pension at the point they are widowed must also make a claim to become entitled to a state pension based on their late husband’s National Insurance contributions. If it is their preference, they can get any Category BL pension backdated for a maximum of 12 months before their claim. They may also be entitled to a deferral payment (one-off lump sum or an additional weekly amount) for the time they have deferred their Category BL pension.