Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to recognise Humanist marriages for the purpose of paying an NHS survivors pension to spouses of deceased pension holders.
Whilst Humanist marriage ceremonies do not have legal force in England and Wales, the NHS Pension Schemes do provide generous survivor benefits for cohabiting couples who are not legally married. The Department routinely considers making changes to NHS Pension Scheme rules to take account of developments in the law governing marriage and civil partnerships.