Could you Claim a War Pension

Hundreds – perhaps thousands – of widowed men could be due up to £9500 a year tax-free under changes to war pensions announced at the end of March. The men fall into two groups. To claim a man must have been married to a woman

· whose death was caused or hastened by her service in the armed forces at any time, or

· who died in World War II

o as a result of enemy action – including bombing, or

o during her work as a civil defence volunteer.

The man must not be married at the time he claims.

For many years widows have been paid a pension if their husband’s death was due to his time in the armed forces. The are also paid to the widows of civilians killed in World War II as civil defence volunteers or by bombing or other enemy action. They are all called war widows pensions and around 50,000 women get one. But a widower had to prove in addition that he was dependent on his late wife’s income, could not support himself and was in need. As a result only six men got a war widower’s pension.

Those extra restrictions on men have now been scrapped. From April 8^th 2002 a man can claim a war widower’s pension on the same grounds as a woman. He has to show that his wife’s death was due to or hastened by any event during her service in the armed forces. That could, of course, include her death in combat. But more likely it will be as a result of a long-standing illness or injury which resulted from any event during her time in the armed forces. Even if she died many years later, it still counts if her death was hastened by an event in the armed forces.

The pension has also been extended to widowers whose wife died during World War Two if she was either a civilian killed by enemy action such as bombing or she was a civil defence volunteer and was killed on duty.

To get a war widower’s pension the man must also not be married. That does not mean he has never remarried, only that he is either a widower or divorced when he claims. A man whose wife was a civilian killed in World War II may also need independent evidence of the cause of her death.

The war widower’s pension is £92 a week and there is a weekly supplementary pension of £59.95 if the woman who died left the armed forces before 1973. In addition, there is an extra amount related to the age of the widower - £10.55 a week for those aged 65 to 69; £20.20 a week for 70 to 79 year olds; and £30.30 a week for people of 80 or more. So the total could be as much as £182 a week. All these amounts are tax-free.

The pension will normally be paid only from the date you first enquire about it – the sooner you ask, the quicker you will get your money. So any man who is currently not married and whose wife’s death was caused or hastened by her service in the armed forces at any time from the first world war to the present should apply. So should any man whose wife died as a civil defence volunteer or whose death was caused by bombing or enemy action in World War II. Find out more from the war pensions helpline 0800 169 2277. Or try the website www.veteransagency.mod.uk. Ex-service people can also contact the Royal British Legion on 08457 725 725.

May 2002

e-mail Paul Lewis on paul@paullewis.co.uk