Widows’ pension campaign springs back into action Posted On 13 May 2015 A campaign calling for pensions for life for all police widows is back in full swing now that the General Election is over. The campaign is spearheaded by Kate Hall, the widow of Colin, a West Midlands Police dog handler who died in 1987 after suffering a heart attack as he responded to a disturbance at a block of flats in 1987. Kate was just 24 when he died and their daughter was four. Around 74,000 people have signed a petition calling for police widows' pensions to be paid for life - even if they remarry or co-habit but 100,000 signatures are required for the campaign to be considered for debate in the House of Commons. Although serving and retired officers have been signing the petition it would appear that there are still thousands who are not aware of the campaign. It is hoped that more people will sign and share the petition: https://www.change.org/p/theresa-may-mp-grant-police-widows-pensions-for-life-don-t-make-them-choose-between-future-happiness-and-pensions Change.org Police Widows’ Pension Campaign entered into Google will also take you to the petition if you are having problems with the link. Kate has already achieved considerable success with her campaign, with the Chancellor’s Budget statement in April outlining plans to change the pension rules benefitting the widows and widowers of those officers killed on duty. But the campaigners want parity with the RUC widows in Northern Ireland with life-long pensions for all police survivors. Kate has set out detailed plans for the next stages of the campaign and is heartened by Prime Minister David Cameron’s speech following his General Election success last week. “Mr Cameron says that the Conservatives with their majority government will be ‘the party of one nation - one United Kingdom’. That is excellent news as we are asking them to go one step further and grant us parity with the RUC widows in Northern Ireland and Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom,” she explains. “We were thrilled to hear that Mr Cameron considered the changes announced in the Budget to be ‘a start’ and that he ‘wanted the changes to include as many people as possible’ so let’s hope that the legislation reflects this.” The campaigners want supporters to write letters to their new MPs and ask them to support changes to the 1987 pension scheme. If you are able to do this please also send a copy of your letter and any replies to Kate at CathrynHall@outlook.com. Never doubt that whilst you are working hard to support the campaign, I am doing my bit working behind the scenes with Julie Butterworth to keep us on the agenda through her federation articles. Cathryn