Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reasons the Government plans not to reinstate police widow pensions for widowers who have had their pensions revoked due to remarriage or co-habiting under the Police Pension Regulations 1987; and if she will bring forward new proposals to ensure that all police widows are treated equally for the provision of such pensions.

Successive governments have been clear that we have a general presumption against making retrospective changes to public service pension schemes.

However the Government believes that the arguments for making this change in respect of police officers who died on duty are sufficiently compelling to allow a limited exception in this case.

The changes to survivor benefits in the police, firefighters and Armed Forces pension schemes have a common implementation date and it is not possible to reinstate the pensions of those who have married before this.

There are no plans to make any further changes to survivor benefits for police pension schemes.