Hi folks,

This is the latest update from Steve Edwards CEO of the National Association of Retired Police Officers with regard to the legal challenge of the 1987 Police Pension Regulations relating to police widows’ pensions.

“Since the August edition (of the NARPO magazine) our claim has now been made at the High Court in Manchester, the proceedings are brought forward by four widows and a widower of former serving police officers and were served on the Home Secretary, Priti Patel on Friday 21st August.  The claimants in question still have their pensions, but are challenging Regulation C9 of The 1987 Police Pension Regulations on the basis that it is in breach of the Human Rights Act, specifically, their right to marry, their right to a family life and the right to not be discriminated against.

The proceedings are representative of a significant group of widows and widowers, all of whom will lose their financial lifeline if they remarry or cohabit.  If successful, the proceedings will also have significant implications for hundreds of widows and widowers who have already lost their pension upon remarriage or cohabitation, after their former partner or spouse’s death. Our legal team have now received a defence from the Secretary of State for the Home Department together with a predictably aggressive Request for Further Information of our served Particulars of Claim. Our legal team are preparing a response to the matters raised and are still confident that the claim has merit.

We will continue to fight to right this injustice and the hearing is expected to take place sometime in the summer next year.”

In the meantime, you can still write to your MP requesting that they ask questions of the Home Office regarding lifelong pensions for all police widows.

It is intolerable that the Home Secretary should persist in resisting a change to the regulations. We know that there are police widows throughout the country living in solitude and isolation as a result of the regulations;  it is highly likely that her inaction is compounding their misery and some will now be living alone and afraid during this pandemic.

Please take great care and stay safe.

Best wishes as always,

Cathryn

CathrynHall11@gmail.com