Blair and war pensions

**Gold Dalek** · 11 April 2006, 10:54

a.k.a blackmail... I suppose the Human Rights legislation would be no use in these cases

**John Galt** · 11 April 2006, 11:14

Originally posted by Mustang

Heard on the radio this morning an article about the women who's husbands were in the forces and died on active duty in Iraq. If they take out a court action and are successful then they will not get a widows pension. This will mean that it is not financially viable to take HMG to court!!!

Just when I thought there were no more depths to which this government could stoop!!

What would the court action be for - fail to see how one thing has anything to do with the other

**Fleetwood** · 11 April 2006, 11:36

Heard on the radio this morning an article about the women who's husbands were in the forces and died on active duty in Iraq.

whose

**threaded** · 11 April 2006, 11:37

A widow basically gets two pensions because of her soldier husband:War Widow's Pension and Attributable Forces Family Pension.

Now the Attributable Forces Family Pension can be affected by payments from a third party, i.e. if the widow gains compensation then the AFFP will be reduced pro-rata.

The widow shouldn't end up any worse off, but they may well have not bothered with claiming compensation.

IMHO the only way out of this Catch-22 is for the courts to award "penalty" payments on top of the compensation, but what judge in the UK is going to do that?

**ASB** · 11 April 2006, 11:55

Originally posted by threaded

A widow basically gets two pensions because of her soldier husband:War Widow's Pension and Attributable Forces Family Pension.

Now the Attributable Forces Family Pension can be affected by payments from a third party, i.e. if the widow gains compensation then the AFFP will be reduced pro-rata.

The widow shouldn't end up any worse off, but they may well have not bothered with claiming compensation.

IMHO the only way out of this Catch-22 is for the courts to award "penalty" payments on top of the compensation, but what judge in the UK is going to do that?

Close, but no cigar.

I believe the pension is only reduced if the widow receives an element of compensation for lost earnings. Any compensatory element on negligence is not taken into account.

You seemed to be saying this in your last para, so maybe the second para was just badly phrased. You can have most of the cigar.

**Mailman** · 11 April 2006, 13:52

So how is blair tied up in this??

If anything...this is merely a reflection of the levels of red tape inherent to this country! This aint just about the war but about everything in how the government handles anything!

BTW, there was a case last year where some guy (saffa I believe) had been in Iraq for 6 months on active duty but because he was out of the country for more than 3 months during his 4 years on an ancestral visa, the home office told him he wasnt able to apply for permanent residence!

Just another reflection on the love of red tape this country has!

Mailman

Blair and war pensions