PENSIONS FOR LIFE FOR CIVIL SERVICE WIDOWS

Motion Text

That this House notes the campaign being mounted by the Civil Service Pensioners' Alliance highlighting the plight of widows and widowers of civil servants who are members of the pre-October 2002 Civil Service Pension Scheme; is concerned that if surviving spouses of these civil servants decide to remarry or cohabit, they automatically lose all rights to their widows' pension; further notes that the recently improved Civil Service Pension Scheme, introduced in October 2002, has removed this condition; recognises that this creates a two-tier system that unfairly excludes widows and widowers from being offered the financial protection now deemed adequate by the new Civil Service Pension Scheme; and calls upon the Government to change the regulations governing this aspect of civil service pensions in order to grant spouses of all civil servants a pension for life.