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<p>In the Budget on 18 March, the Chancellor announced that widows, widowers and surviving
civil partners of police officers who have died on duty in England and Wales will
no longer lose their survivors’ benefits in future if they remarry, form a civil partnership
or cohabit. These pensions will not be re-instated for those who have already lost
them through remarriage or cohabitation, though current rules already allow re-instatement
if the 'new' relationship ends.</p><p>Changes will be limited to those deaths which
have occurred whilst on duty. The Home Office will consult the Police Advisory Board
for England and Wales (PABEW) shortly on proposals to implement this change and this
will include the definition of “on duty”.</p><p>As policing is a devolved matter in
Northern Ireland and Scotland, the Northern Ireland Executive and Scottish Government
respectively are responsible for the design and funding of police pensions in those
parts of the United Kingdom. The Government has a continuous duty to ensure that public
service pensions are affordable, sustainable and fair, both for the members of those
schemes and for other taxpayers.</p>
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