Closed petition Equalise survivor benefits for widows & widowers in the Teachers Pension Scheme.

Closed on 15 March 2018

The Teachers Pension Scheme provides survivor benefits for the spouses of teachers who have paid into the occupational pension scheme. However, there is a difference in what a teacher's widow or widower receives. A man's widow will get 50% of his pension, but a woman's widower is likely to get less.

Historically, men and women teachers have paid exactly the same contributions into the pension scheme, and will receive equal pensions (based on their years of service and salary level). The scheme provides for their surviving partners to receive 50% of their pension. However, for the purposes of calculating these survivors benefits, male teachers leaving a widow have all their years of service from 1972 included. Female teachers (and same-sex couples) have all service prior to 1988 disregarded.