Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013

Category B retirement pension for widowers

13 (1) Section 51 of the 1992 Act (Category B retirement pension for widowers) is amended in accordance with sub-paragraphs (2) to (4).

(2) After subsection (1) insert—

“(1ZA) A party to a marriage of a same sex couple shall be entitled to a Category B retirement pension if—

(a) the other party has died and they were married to each other at the time of that death,

(b) they were both over pensionable age at the time of that death, and

(c) before that death the deceased party satisfied the contribution conditions for a Category A retirement pension in Schedule 3, Part 1, paragraph 5.”.

(3) Subsection (2): after “wife” insert “, husband”.

(4) Subsection (3): after “2002” insert “, surviving party to a same sex marriage”.

(5) Section 51(1ZA) of the 1992 Act does not confer a right to a Category B retirement pension on a person if the person attains pensionable age on or after 6th April 2010.

(6) Section 51(1ZA) of the 1992 Act does not confer a right to a Category B retirement pension on a woman by reason of her marriage to another woman (“the spouse”) if—

(a) the spouse was, at the time of her death, a woman by virtue of a full gender recognition certificate having been issued under the Gender Recognition Act 2004, and

(b) the marriage subsisted before the time when that certificate was issued.

(7) In this paragraph “the 1992 Act” means the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992.