teachers widowers pension

astraken

i get a pension from my deceased wife's employment as a teacher - she died in service in 2003 - i understand that if i remarry i will lose this pension - what if i move in with a partner? is it possible to cohabit in any way and not lose the pension?

jem16

Best people to ask would be the pension provider themselves.

Foggster

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Widow's/Widower's pension[/FONT]

[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]A pension will be paid if you have at least two years' service covered for family benefit. It is calculated at the rate of 1/160 of your average salary for each year of family benefit service. It will be one half of your pension if all your service counts for family benefit or a smaller proportion of your pension if you have not covered all your service. A pension is payable for life, or until the widow/widower either remarries or co-habits.[/FONT]
[/FONT]

http://www.teacherspensions.co.uk/Guide/leaflets/lft861+873/lft861+87302.htm

Niggles

This seems amazing to me.
Does this mean that if a woman is widowed by a male teacher who was the main earner and man is widowed by a female teacher who was the main earner and then these two people decide to co-habit then they lose both their pensions.

marklv

Niggles wrote: »

This seems amazing to me.
Does this mean that if a woman is widowed by a male teacher who was the main earner and man is widowed by a female teacher who was the main earner and then these two people decide to co-habit then they lose both their pensions.

It's not amazing at all; all widow/widower pensions have this rule. If you remarry you lose the pension because you are in a new relationship. Quite right too. The point of these pensions is to support those who are in financial hardship due to the loss of the partner's income, they are not meant as an additional income for life regardless of circumstances.

jack705

I too agree with this idea that pension support must not be linked with marital status rather with economic hardships & financial circumstances which a widow have to face.

Batchy

I find this amazing, you provide for your partner if the unfortunate was to happen only for a rope and shackles to be tied around their ankles for the rest of their life...

Sobraon

The New Police Pension Scheme regulations specifically removed this "loss of pension on remarriage" (or co-habitation) for want of a better way of putting it in 2006 (see para 3. link).

The teachers scheme (TPS) was also changed a couple of years ago but I am not sure what change was made to widow/widowers pensions in the event of the situation described in the OP. Although one can understand marklvs point of view above it is the case that part of the police pension payment by officers is specifically (about 3%) to provide a widow/widowers pension.

Similar arrangements exist for the TPS scheme now where it is more expensive to provide additional pension benefits for surviving dependents rather than just the member alone.

Goldenyears

Similarly with the Civil Service schemes that replaced Classic, survivor pensions were maintained on remarriage but there was an extra price to pay.

jem16

Sobraon wrote: »

The teachers scheme (TPS) was also changed a couple of years ago but I am not sure what change was made to widow/widowers pensions in the event of the situation described in the OP.

You are correct - I have just checked my Scottish Teachers' Scheme. I can't imagine the English scheme would be any different.

Long-term pensions are paid immediately after the short-term pension stops or from the day after death. Pensions will end in the event of the recipients death, remarriage, cohabitation or if a new civil partnership is registered if the member’s pension came into payment before 1 April 2007. If the member dies on or after 1 April 2007 the adult dependant’s pension will be payable for life.

seven-day-weekend

I think it is quite fair actually, Pension provision should be for the partners in the new relationship to sort out.