129.Apart from the above elements of derived entitlements, a surviving spouse or civil partner may also be entitled to half the deceased’s graduated retirement benefit (GRB) – a form of earnings-related pension that could be accrued between 1961 and 1975. Widowers and surviving civil partners who reached state pension age before 6 April 2010 may inherit GRB only if both parties are over state pension age when the spouse or civil partner dies. The provisions for GRB inheritance are in section 37 of the National Insurance Act 1965. Section 62 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 provides the powers to amend the GRB provisions. Paragraph 14(2) of Schedule 4 inserts new powers into section 62 to enable regulations to be made extending section 37 of the National Insurance Act 1965 to men and their late husbands and to women and their late wives on the same terms as currently apply to widowers and surviving civil partners. Subsections (3) and (4) have the effect that a woman who was married to a transsexual woman remains entitled to half the GRB of the deceased without restriction – as if her spouse had not changed legal gender.
Examples
Teresa (born in 1949) and Angela (born in 1954) get married. Angela would have reached state pension age in 2020 but she dies in 2019. She had built up £20 additional (earnings-related) state pension in the current state pension scheme. The maximum inheritable amount would be one-half, but as Teresa reached state pension age before April 2010 she will not be entitled to inherit any of Angela’s additional state pension. However, under separate rules that apply equally to widows, widowers and surviving civil partners, if her own basic state pension is less than the full rate of £110.15 (at current rates) she may still be able to have this increased up to the full rate, using Angela’s contributions(2).
Sarah (born in 1949) and Richard (born in 1955) married in 1990. Richard (now known as Ruth) is granted a full gender recognition certificate and the couple remain married. However, Ruth dies in 2020, before reaching state pension age in 2021. She had built up £40 additional state pension and £1.50 GRB in the current state pension scheme. Although Sarah reached state pension age before April 2010, she will still be able to inherit half Ruth’s additional state pension and GRB, as this is what she would have been entitled to had Ruth not obtained a gender recognition certificate.
Under the Government’s proposals for reforming the state pension, a person who reaches state pension age before the reforms are introduced in April 2016 will still be able to qualify for the state pension based on the contributions their spouse or civil partner made into the current scheme, under the current rules.
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