Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to ensure that widows of deceased police officers are not discriminated against upon remarrying in relation to their entitlement to a survivor’s pension.

Survivors of officers who were members of the 2006 and 2015 police pension schemes are, since 2006, paid survivor pensions for life.

On 18 January 2016, the Police Pensions Regulations 1987 and the Police (Injury Benefit) Regulations 2006 were amended to allow widows, widowers and civil partners of police officers in England and Wales who have died on duty and who qualified for a survivor pension after 1 April 2015 to continue to receive their survivors’ benefits for life. Successive governments have been clear that there is a general presumption against making retrospective changes to public service pension schemes. However, the Government believes the arguments for making a limited exception for the widows of police officers who died on duty are sufficiently compelling in this case.