Before sharing with you my latest update - can I take a moment to send my sincere condolences to the family of Merseyside officer PC David Phillips. PC Phillips is the latest officer to be killed whilst serving his community - he died after being struck by a stolen vehicle. My heart goes out to his wife and children and I appreciate that nothing I can say will ease their pain. They are in my thoughts and David will not be forgotten. x My update: This letter was received today by police widow and campaigner Jennifer Murtagh: Cabinet Secretary for Justice Michael Matheson Dear Mrs Murtagh, Further to my letter date 29th September, I am writing to you personally to let you know about the Scottish Government’s decision to make changes to the treatment of survivor’s pensions under the older pre-2006 Police and Firefighter schemes. As you are aware, the UK Government has decided to provide lifetime awards for the spouses and civil partners of police officers and firefighters who were members of the pre 2006 Schemes who die in the line of duty. The Scottish Government recognises that police officers and firefighters regularly face the real risk of losing their lives in ensuring our communities are kept safe, and it is only right that the pension scheme reflects this. The scheme regulations in Scotland will therefore also be amended to provide lifetime awards for spouses and civil partners of police officers and firefighters who die in the line of duty. However, the Scottish Government feels that only applying this change from a date going forward does not recognise the ultimate sacrifice made by police officers and firefighters whose wives, husbands and civil partners have already had their pensions withdrawn. We have therefore decided to also reinstate those pensions that have previously been withdrawn where the police officer or firefighter was killed in the line of duty. This change will apply from 1st October 2015 and pension entitlement will recommence from that date. I hope this change underlines the genuine gratitude and appreciation that Scottish Ministers hold for those firefighters and police officers like your late husband who paid the ultimate sacrifice in making our communities safer. I hope you agree it ensures that their families and loved ones will now have the security they deserve. With best wishes, Michael Matheson This article has appeared in the media: http://news.stv.tv/scotland/1330105-remarried-partners-of-police-killed-in-line-of-duty-keep-pensions/ Scotland took a lot of convincing that they have the devolved powers to make the changes, but now they have firmly grasped the nettle and taken the changes one step further to reinstate pensions that have been revoked – please note that the letter says that this applies to officers and firefighters ‘killed on duty’. This is not parity with Northern Ireland, but the retrospective change is a huge step forward for our campaign as a whole. These changes have been made possible by survivors across Scotland quietly and patiently beavering away - we had decided that Scotland could be the key to retrospective changes and it is so gratifying to see that all of their hard work has paid off - you guys are brilliant! Please make your MP aware of Scotland’s decision and point out that like Northern Ireland they too are part of the United Kingdom. For those of you in Scotland can you please contact your MP/MSP and express your joy at the developments, but reiterate that we are campaigning for parity with Northern Ireland and lifelong pensions for all police survivors. Some politicians in Scotland are still not aware of the full background to the campaign and may consider that their work is now complete. As I have said before - when this campaign first started in June 2014, the door to lifelong pensions was firmly shut against us. That door has been opened and some survivors are trooping through – just a trickle at the moment, but when added to for long enough a trickle inevitably becomes a flood. Please send copies of all correspondence and replies received to: CathrynHall@outlook.com Cathryn