As the dissolution of parliament takes place on Monday 30th March the announcement of our pension settlement will not happen until after the general election, and it will be the responsibility of the new administration to put the settlement into place. Alex Duncan of the Police Federation of England and Wales Legislation sub-Committee obtained the following information on our behalf: ‘I can confirm that we have today heard from the Home Office senior civil servant in respect of Police pay and pensions. He has informed us that due to the forthcoming election and the fact that the purdah period is upon us the details behind the budget statement will be a matter for the new administration. The view from the Home Office is that irrespective of who wins the election the detail will be forthcoming. There will need to be a change of legislation to implement the change and this will be laid by the new administration post- election.’ We need not remain idle whilst we wait – in the six weeks before the election our MPs will be canvassing for our votes as will other prospective candidates. 50 MPs across most political parties signed Early Day Motion 828. Go to this link for the list of signatories and see if your MP was amongst them: http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2014-15/828 Clearly these individuals have shown themselves willing to support our cause and some will have done so at our behest as their constituents. As they will now welcome an opportunity to communicate with us as prospective voters, this is an opportune moment to be writing to them again. Don't forget to mark all emails and attached letters 'Private and Confidential'. We would have been doing this had the settlement announcement been made pre- election and we will stick to the original plan. However, the settlement isn’t yet written and we must do nothing to jeopardize our excellent progress. We can point out tactfully that the wording of the EDM that was a disappointment: ‘Lost in the line of duty’ limits the benefits of the changes to a comparatively small number of widows and widowers. We are grateful however for this demonstration of cross party support.’ This is the Budget announcement as it appears in the Red Book Document- note that ‘who are killed on duty' has replaced ‘lose their lives on duty’ as appeared in the Chancellor’s speech: 2.17 Survivors’ pensions – ‘The government will ensure that all widows, widowers and civil partners of police officers and firefighters who are killed on duty will no longer lose their survivor benefits if they remarry, cohabit, or form a civil partnership. The government will also examine the possibility of making similar changes for members of the security services killed on duty. On 1 April 2015, the government will be introducing new and reformed public service pension schemes. All these new schemes will allow widows, widowers and civil partners across the public sector workforces to retain survivor benefits if they remarry, cohabit or form a civil partnership.’ Clearly what constitutes ‘on duty’ is an issue as things stand, but also consider beyond that point – we want lifelong pensions for all police survivors. These are some of my comments in response to the Budget announcement: ‘I am delighted that as a result of the hard work of our supporters - some police survivors will benefit from the proposed changes. Based upon the Budget announcement we have not yet reached our goal of parity with the RUC widows and a comparatively small number of people will benefit this time around, but no one should be in any doubt that the Chancellor’s speech heralded a great step forward for our campaign. Mr Cameron told our representative that he wanted the changes to be as far reaching as possible and that they had to start somewhere. This gives me great hope that given the opportunity, he intends to do the right thing and roll out the changes to include all police survivors. It would be cruel to raise our hopes and then to dash them - our representative said that Mr Cameron seemed very compassionate, and a compassionate person that genuinely cared about us as individuals would not do that. I cannot imagine that our next government whoever should win the election, would wish to move in any direction other than forwards on this matter. I would just like to thank everyone who has worked so hard on our behalf particularly the police widows and widowers that have shared their sometimes harrowing stories to provide the clear and compelling argument required by the Home Secretary. It has been a traumatic experience for some. There is of course disappointment that we didn’t secure a complete victory this time around, but I remain optimistic - we have made great progress and will continue to fight on. As the spouses of police officers we know how to wait, and we are very good at it.’ Other quotes that may also prove useful to you when writing your letters: Richard Graham MP said in the Adjournment Debate of February 25th: ‘Things have changed. The regulations on police pensions in Northern Ireland changed last year and, more significantly, a very similar rule was amended for the armed forces so that from April this year, all widows and widowers of our armed forces can remarry or live with a new partner without losing their pension. That change is retrospective, and it sets a precedent for further change.’ Alistair Burt MP asked Mr Graham the question: ‘Does my hon. Friend agree that the Government have a good record in seeking to put right the errors of the past? That is a further reason for looking at what now appears to be an anomaly in the regulations. The change he is seeking would be welcomed as being in the spirit of what the Government have sought to achieve in one or two other areas in order to correct past wrongs.’ Richard Graham answered: ‘My right hon. Friend is absolutely right: the Government do have a good record of trying to right problems and issues inherited from the past—one could call them historical leftovers. It is to the benefit of many people when a Government are able to tackle such issues with the fairness and justice they deserve. That is why today’s debate is timely. It comes some three months after the Government rightly addressed what could be described as an injustice for the widows and widowers of members of the armed forces. Today’s debate gives the Minister for Policing an opportunity to spell out the challenges, in his view, in getting a similar injustice addressed for the widows and widowers of the constabularies of this country.’ When it was his turn to speak The Minister for Policing, Criminal Justice and Victims Mike Penning said: ‘………My hon. Friend touched on the fact that, through its devolved powers, Northern Ireland has already acceded to the widows’ requests. I was the Northern Ireland Minister at the time and, although that matter is devolved, I can assure Members that I was lobbied very heavily in Northern Ireland. I hope that I was part of that decision.’ That decision was eventually to grant all RUC widows in Northern Ireland pensions for life, and widows’ pensions that had been withdrawn due to remarriage of cohabitation were reinstated. We are seeking parity with the RUC widows. Mike Penning described our campaign thus: ‘….The compassion that has been shown in the correspondence is remarkable. If people who are campaigning on other issues could look at how this campaign has been conducted, they might find that their campaigns receive not dissimilar support from across the House.’ Do not doubt for a moment the importance of what we have achieved so far – we are approaching the general election having secured the budget announcement and all that it implies. We need to use this opportunity to reiterate that we are one family and we want the best for our family members – all of them. We need to begin promoting the petition once more in earnest – the poor beast has been somewhat neglected of late – we still need to pursue the 100,000 signature target. Can you send me copies of your letters and replies received to: CathrynHall@outlook.com with the heading 'Round Two'. Cathryn