Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the annual cost of allowing all surviving spouses, civil partners and partners receiving benefits under the Police Pension Scheme 1987 to retain those benefits following remarriage or cohabitation.

The most recent actuarial valuation of the police pension schemes in England and Wales as at 31 March 2020, shows that there are approximately 27,000 dependants in receipt of a pension. This figure includes dependants other than surviving partners and is for all schemes, not just the 1987 scheme.

The Government Actuary’s Department has estimated that removing the provision on ceasing pensions for current or future spouses, civil partners and partners who remarry or cohabit could increase overall scheme liabilities by around £190 million and reinstating previously ceased pensions by a further £70 million, using the data as at 31 March 2020.

It is not possible to estimate accurately the number who will lose their pension if they remarry or cohabit. However, cost assumptions have been made by the Government Actuary’s Department based on historic data of survivor pension cessations as a result of remarriage or cohabitation showing an average of 25 remarriages a year from 2008 – 2020. The breakdown of data is not held by the Home Office.