Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an estimate of the financial impact of amending the 1987 Police Pension Scheme to allow widowers of police officers to retain survivor’s pension entitlement if they (a) remarry and (b) cohabit regardless of how the officer died.

The 1987 Police Pension Scheme provides survivor benefits to widows, widowers, and civil partners of police officers who die. In line with most public service pension schemes of that era, these benefits cease upon remarriage or cohabitation.

With the introduction of the 2006 and 2015 Police Pension Schemes, all eligible officers were able to join a pension scheme that provides life-long survivor benefits for spouses, civil partners and unmarried partners, including for those who remarry or cohabit after losing a spouse.

The 1987 police pension scheme is a closed scheme and there are no plans at this time to make any further improvements to benefits accrued in it.