
War widow: 'Marrying again cost me my military pension'
A war widow says she's been told by the Ministry of Defence that she will receive her pension if she divorces her second husband and remarries him.
A war widow says she's been told by the Ministry of Defence that she will receive her military pension if she divorces her second husband and remarries him.
After a long campaign by war widows, the government agreed to change the rules around war pensions. Susan Rimmer thought she'd be entitled to her first husband's pension again but she wasn't, because the changes only applied to those affect after April 2015.
In 1972, Susan was just 19 when her husband Private Jim Lee was killed in service in Northern Ireland.
17 years later, in 1989 she married again, which meant that the rules at the time, would lead to her losing her former husband's pension.
Susan's case was raised at Prime Minister's Questions last week and David Cameron said he'd look at the case. She told Radio 5 live Daily's Adrian Chiles about how she is still puzzled by the new pension rule.
"I don't understand why I can divorce my husband and get it back. Why not just give it to me anyway."
In response, an MOD spokesperson said:
"We listened to campaigners and changed the pension scheme rules to allow survivors' pensions to be paid for life for those who re-married or cohabited on or after 1 April 2015.
"It is the long standing principle, adopted by successive governments, against making retrospective changes to schemes in order that they remain manageable and affordable for the taxpayer."
This clip is originally from 5 live Daily on 9 May 2016.
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