Police Widows, Pension For Life.

[sandyRoe]

Below is a link to a petition calling for police widows to be awarded their pensions for life. Will you sign it?

https://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/theresa-may-mp-grant-police-widows-pensions-for-life-don-t-make-them-choose-between-future-happiness-and-pensions?utm_source=action_alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=120160&alert_id=lDSiZlXPIZ_PYHAXrQdKYSl%2FF2osnrnwp5PkJRVTIh7eiLH8iScCrQ%3D

[sandyRoe]

I think that's it, yes.

[sandyRoe]

http://www.change.org/petitions/theresa-may-mp-grant-police-widows-pensions-for-life-don-t-make-them-choose-between-future-happiness-and-pensions?recruiter=64600520&;utm_campaign=signature_receipt&;utm_medium=email&;utm_source=share_petition

Is this a better link?

[EDDIE51]

A good idea but should this not apply to all widows/widowers not just the police? Others are faced with the same problem, many pension funds cease to pay out if the survivor remarries or lives with a partner , the money has been paid into the pension why should the pension fund profit from a widow/widower getting a new partner?

[retrocop]

The pension contribution in my father's service career (1938-!969) was phenomenal,considering the poor pay until the early sixties.Probably a higher percentage contribution than other careers at the time.My mothers widow's pension was quite meagre when he joined George Dixon in the sky,though he was twice given the opportunity to enhance his widows pension by opting to pay more as his pay increased.He opted out. I saw that the life of a policeman's wife was not easy.They had to be supportive,always have a meal on the table when husband was delayed on duty,anxious sleepless nights for them.Let them keep their pension.A policeman's widow deserves it as much as their late husband.

[dannyk13]

As an ex member of the force I wholeheartedly agree with Retrocop.

[factor-fiction]

I agree with Eddie. I don't see why this change shouldn't apply to all pension schemes. It would of course have implications for the schemes and may need increased contributions or reduced benefits to cover the cost, but I'm not sure whether the costs would be significant/prohibitive

[black_cat51]

i also don't see it should be just police widows, or in fact just widows - does it apply to widowers too? - unless of course the police person died in hte execution of their duty - then i would agree i think

[anneasquith]

no.

[mikey4444]

I can't see why they shouldn't get their widows pension for the rest of their lives. It happens in every other job, so why not the Police.

I have a friend whose received his BT pension, when he retired, as I did but he died 5 years ago and his widow now receives 50% for the rest of her life. What possible difference can it make if she remarries ?

[woofgang]

It doesn't happen in every other job. I lose my widows pension from my husbands private pension if I remarry.

[BRIGHT SPARK]

If they pay more in ..yes, if not ..no.

[EDDIE51]

Mikey a lot of pension providers have the clause that the survivor only gets the pension until she/he remarries or lives with a new partner. It is unfair but common, as I said why should only the Police benefit? it should apply to all.

[mikey4444]

I may have got it wrong about my BT pension. As I am not married, 50% of my pension will go to the person that I have nominated, which is my middle brother ( not my next of kin, who is my oldest brother ) This nomination is done under a "discretionary trust" as the Pension Scheme Trustees have the right to alter this nomination if circumstances have changed, such as the middle brother dying before me.

I think different pension schemes will differ in their individual conditions. In the case of Police Widows, if there is a rule that they lose their entitlement if they re-marry, then that sounds a bit unfair to me. But if it is in the Pension Scheme rules, than it will be difficult to alter, and almost impossible to do so retrospectively.

[EDDIE51]

This has come up on AB before, I think there was information that 60% of pensions had this 'stops on remarriage' clause. Your BT pension seems to be one of the good ones.

[mikey4444]

My BT Pension Scheme would have been written under the same rules as most "public service " ones, as it was a Type A Scheme, ie a Civil Service one. I joined what was then called GPO Telephones, in 1970, which changed to all sorts of wonderful names, until the present one of BT, which it obtained after the Tories hived it off in the first of the big privatisations. But I am fairly sure that todays BT Staff don't have anything like as good a pension scheme as I had, more is the pity.

There is another anomaly about the Police scheme, in that they can retire on full pension at age 50, not 60 or 65 which would be more normal. And they can build up full entitlement at age 50 as well, which most workers would find great difficulty in so doing.

[retrocop]

mikey
I think that is precisely why the police dog handlers widow want's to petition to change the Police Pension Regulations.
I always laugh when I remember my cousin's husband,who worked man and boy for the GPO as a telegram boy and later as a BT automatic exchange engineer,bitching to my Dad and later to me how unfair it was that we could collect our full police pensions at 49yrs,depending on age of joining and that we could commute 2/3rds into a lump sum if we wished.When it was pointed out that his quite generous pension was non-contributory and we paid a large percentage of our monthly salary to our pension contribution he never spoke on the matter again. It is strange that as a GPO telegram boy and engineer,should he decide to join the Metropolitan Police his GPO service counted towards his pensionable service with the police whereas a Metropolitan Police cadet's service was disregarded when pensionable service was calculated. Always though that odd.
How is my space bar discipline nowadays I am working on it diligently?

[mikey4444]

Retro...with respect, I think you have the old Post Office pension wrong. It was never "non-contributory" but was a standard superannuation type. It was identical in every way to a Civil Service scheme, which most other Public Service employers followed, like Postmen, Teachers, Local Government, etc.

This "superann" scheme typically made employees paid about 6% of their salaries into the scheme....the exact percentage differs from employer to employer, and from time to time. The employer then paid in as well, and the resultant final pension was worked out from final salary and years in service.

It was normal for people to "take their pension with them" so to speak, when they changed jobs within the Public Sector. When I was a young apprentice, we had quite a lot of engineers that came from the railways, ie British Rail, and also from the Gas and Electricity Boards. As the pension schemes were the same, accrued years and benefits were amalgamated into our scheme.

I repeat...these schemes were never non-contributory.

I would like to congratulate you on your marked improvement in space bar use ! We seem to have fallen out over this issue, which was never my intention, I assure you. It just makes any print easier to read, that's all. Just like Mission Impossible, your task now, if you choose to accept it, is to explore the many uses of paragraphs !

[retrocop]

One small step at a time mikey.

[mikey4444]

LOL Retrocop !