4. After regulation A3, insert—
A4.—(1) In these Regulations, a reference to—
(a)civil partnership is to be read as including a reference to marriage of a same sex couple and a reference to civil partners and a person who is in a civil partnership is to be construed accordingly;
(b)a person who is living with another person as if they were in a civil partnership is to be read as including a reference to a person who is living with another person of the same sex as if they were married.
(2) Where paragraph (1) requires a reference to be read in a particular way, any related reference (such as a reference to a civil partnership that has ended, a reference to a person whose civil partnership has ended, or a reference to persons formerly living together as civil partners) is to be read accordingly.
(3) For the purposes of paragraphs (1) and (2) it does not matter how a reference is expressed.
(4) In this regulation, “civil partnership” and “civil partners” have the meanings given by section 1 of the Civil Partnership Act 2004(1).
(5) Where—
(a)a deceased member of this Scheme was a woman by virtue of a full gender recognition certificate having been issued under the Gender Recognition Act 2004(2), and
(b)at the time of the member’s death, the member was married to a woman and that marriage subsisted before the time when the certificate was issued,
the member’s widow is to be treated for the purposes of Part G and Part K of these Regulations as if the certificate had not been issued.”.