Government will not legislate to equalise widowers' survivor benefits

In a written statement, published yesterday (4 July), pensions and financial inclusion minister Guy Opperman said the government had concluded it would not make "any further retrospective changes" on survivor benefits. The government had considered the results of a cross-departmental review of differences in survivor benefits in occupational pension schemes, which were published in 2014, but decided against amending the law. Survivor benefits for widowers and widows were equalised after the 1990 Barber judgment, but accruals were only made from then onward, meaning women with long-ser...