Home Secretary: Police widows CAN remarry and keep their pensions

Widows of police officers killed on duty will not have to choose between “solitude and financial security” if they remarry or cohabit, Home Secretary Theresa May has agreed.

A week on from the tragic events of Merseyside Police officer Dave Phillips and a 110,000-signature petition handed into 10 Downing Street on Monday demanding rule changes to pension rights brought an instant reaction from the Government.

The Home Secretary said the grieving loved ones of serving officers would no longer lose their pensions.

In a Commons statement, Mrs May said the death of PC Phillips after being hit by a car was a “terrible reminder” of the dangers officers face every day.

Existing pensions rules mean that widows, widowers and surviving civil partners of police officers receive their pension when they die. But they lose their late spouse`s pension if they remarry, form a civil partnership or even move in with a new partner.

Last summer police widow Cathryn Hall spearheaded a campaign, backed by the website Change.org, calling for the rules to be amended and warning that it penalised people who moved on with their lives.

The Home Secretary told the House of Commons: “A week ago, in the small hours of the morning, PC David Phillips was killed in the line of duty.

“PC Phillip`s death serves as a terrible reminder of the very real dangers that police officers face day in day in day out as they put themselves in harm`s way to deal with violent criminals and dangerous situations.

“Police officers put themselves in danger doing a vital and it`s important we make sure their families are looked after if the worst happens.

“As the law currently stands, widows, widowers and surviving civil partners of police officers who are members of the 1987 police pension scheme stand to lose their partners pension if they remarry, form a civil partnership or cohabit.

“In recognition of the level of risk that police officers face in the execution of their duty, this government has pledged to reform the 1987 pension scheme to ensure that the widows, widowers and civil partners of police officers who`ve died on duty do not have to choose between solitude and financial security”

In 2008, a Government scheme launched which effectively ‘bought out’ police widows of their pensions for £20,000 if they remarried. It is estimated that 131 spouses had their pensions axed between 2008 and 2012 because they remarried or moved in with a partner.

The “compelling case” to close the loophole originally got a huge boost from Policing Minister Mike Penning at a parliamentary adjournment debate at Westminster back in February of this year.

The debate, brought by MP Richard Graham, followed a long-running campaign, by the widows and widowers of police officers killed in the line of duty.

Under existing rules, the pensions of 22,000 serving police officers in Britain would be cancelled if they died on duty and their partners later remarried or moved in with someone.

Petition organiser Cathryn Hall’s husband Colin died of a heart attack while serving with West Midlands Police in 1987.

He had served the force for 21 years. On the day he died, he was dispatched to deal with a disturbance. After finishing the duty he suffered a heart attack and died at the scene.

“I became a widow at 24, and our four-year-old daughter Kelly lost her best friend in the world,” she said.

In 2001 she sacrificed his pension of £300 a month when she moved in with her partner after years of living alone.

She added: “Fourteen years after Colin`s death I faced a difficult decision, whether to keep my police widows` pension, or move in with my partner.

“Although I could ill afford to lose the money, living apart was becoming intolerable. I forfeited my pension and our financial lives have been a roller coaster ride ever since.

“Colin worked hard for our financial security, and I think it unfair that widows should lose their pension if they find happiness again; that is why I started the petition calling for all police widows’ pens