Campaign 300

Campaign 300 was so named because after the successful conclusion of the Pension For Life campaign, it was thought that about 300 widows had been forced to forfeit their war widows’ pension on remarriage or cohabitation and they were not included in the new legislation.

The Trustees are fighting for these ladies to have their war widows’ pension restored. This campaign is backed in the House of Commons by Dr Julian Lewis and in the House of Lords by our President and Vice Presidents. If they were to divorce their current husband they would be entitled to have their pension restored. There would then be nothing to stop them remarrying and keeping that pension which is a ridiculous situation.

At the moment the Treasury is refusing to discuss restoring the pension but are looking at a proposal put forward by Ben Wallace, the Secretary of State for Defence which would give each of these ladies an ex-gratia payment.

WWA Trustees updates are below and all other news and info is towards the bottom of the page.

WWA TRUSTEE UPDATES:

26th October 2023: Also posted into our private members area
One of our members managed to have a discussion with Veteran’s UK today after she had
experienced some difficulties with the form. She was given some useful information which I
am now passing onto you.

They are asking for a lot of information from you. The more you can provide the easier it is
for them to resolve your claim but don’t worry if you don’t have it all. Submit the form
anyway.

Time from receipt of claim to payment will be about 60 working days.

Even although the claim form still states that to be eligible you must not be in receipt of the
attributable pension, put in your claim form anyway. We are working to get this changed.

Any problem then email Karen on DBSVets-Widows@mod.gov.uk.
Moira Kane
Chair of the War Widows Association

20th September 2023: Committee of Trustees Statement (members only access)

9th August 2023: Also posted into our private members area
The Chair recently emailed the MOD to ask what progress was being made on applications for the payment of the lump sum offered to those who were unable to have their War Pension reinstated. She pointed out that we had not heard anything for some time and the summer was rushing by. We received the following reply:-

“Significant work has been going on by several government Departments – discussing the issues of taxation and how the payment will affect benefits. Final decisions have not yet been made, but once any decisions have been approved by Ministers, we will advise you and the ladies affected immediately. The MOD still plans to open the scheme for applications in the autumn 2023 and announcements will be made as soon as this happens.”

Please be assured that as soon as the Association has any further information we will tell the Campaign 300 group and members, post it on the website and publicise it through the ex service community as widely as we can. The reply went on to say:-

“Members who believe themselves eligible are welcome to contact Veterans UK now. Veterans UK will take a few details to enable them to contact the Members as soon as the Scheme opens and assist them with their applications.”

So you can now contact Veterans’ UK – just to register your interest and so they can get back in touch as soon as applications open.

The number is 0808 1914 2 18 (Overseas +44 1253 866 043) the office is open 8.00am to 4.00pm or email veterans-uk@mod.gov.uk.

Please make a note of the date and time if you call and, if you think that your call is not dealt with appropriately please contact us and we will refer it back to the MOD to investigate.

We suggest that apart from your name and address and date of birth, you have the following details to hand when you call:

Your National Insurance Number
Your first husband’s name and date of birth
His National Insurance Number – if you have it
His Service Number – if you have it.
The date of his death.
The date you remarried.

But we repeat, if you have an issue with how your call is handled please email us at info@warwidows.org.uk.

27th July 2023: This update was originally posted in our members-only forum to try and answer all questions and comments, but we thought it might be useful if we made it more publicly available:
Members have started a number of threads on the Forum – all essentially focusing on the Campaign 300 and the issues arising from the MOD offer of a lump sum to those ladies who cannot have their War Widows’ Pension reinstated. It is proving difficult to keep track of all of these and many are repeating earlier comments. So I thought It might be helpful if I summarised the situation and the Association’s view of our progress.

Our wish has always been to have the pension reinstated. But the reality is that we will not achieve this in a short time frame. The MOD announced in May – somewhat unexpectedly – that they were making an offer of a one-off payment of £87,500, on the basis that £17,500 would be the income tax due, at the standard rate of 20%. Thereby, intending to create a payment of £70,000. They further stated that they intended to open the application process during the summer.

Firstly, it is not for the Association to accept or refuse this offer. We could still continue to campaign for reinstatement of the pension– but with little likelihood of success. Meanwhile we would be denying ladies access to much needed money. We believe that the payment of this lump sum is almost certainly the best outcome we can achieve.

Whilst the media will report other groups being given large sums of money – tax free – these payments are (in law) compensation, and are the result of governments breaking the law. The money is being paid in lieu of long and costly court cases, that the government would almost certainly lose. Unfortunately, we do not have the ‘law’ on our side – the surrender of the pension was not illegal, and thus we cannot be paid compensation. We can only argue for government to behave honourably – but we cannot compel them to.

We have highlighted – most robustly – the failings of their mathematics in calculating the tax that will be due in reality, and the consequential disruption to ladies tax arrangements. But again we cannot compel or force the government to change their plans. We can only argue for fairness and complain at the misrepresentation of the original statement.

We have not stopped campaigning on these issues relating to the payment of the lump sum – but it is not possible (or indeed advisable) to reveal all the conversations we are having on the matter.

We have been asked for our input on the process of application and we are pressing for you to be allowed to at least ‘register your interest’ at the earliest opportunity.

In simple terms – if you previously received a War Widows’ Pension but surrendered it on remarriage or cohabitation, and that marriage or relationship has not ended you will be eligible to apply for this lump sum, no matter when you received a War Widows Pension. If your marriage or relationship has ended – you should apply to have your pension reinstated. This one-off payment is ONLY for those who cannot have their pension reinstated.

We believe that the Veterans UK will be able to confirm the previous payment of a War Widow’s Pension for most applicants, with only minimum information about you and your late husband. However, if records cannot be found and more information is required we will standby to assist you as best we can in advising how you can provide the necessary evidence. But we expect this to be only for the minority of applications.

Finally, as soon as we have new information that we can share with you – we will.

But I will close in reinforcing the reality that this is a campaign of persuasion – we have no power to force the government’s hand. We cannot – to quote some comments – ‘make them’ do anything.

21st June 2023: Message from the Trustees of the WWA
We have received a few enquiries from ladies whose second partner has died and they are now alone again. They were unaware that they were entitled to have their war widows pension reinstated. They are asking if they are eligible for the ex-gratia payment. They are NOT eligible for this payment and if they have not had their War Widows’ Pension restored they should contact Veterans UK at Norcross immediately and explain their circumstances. Sadly their pension will not be backdated but will be calculated from the day they inform the agency.

If you or anyone you know is in a similar situation to these ladies please contact Veterans UK on 0808 1914 218.

ALL UPDATES & NEWS

Published 11th November 2023 – Daily Express: Britain’s forgotten war widows say a government scheme to finally give them a special Recognition Payment is a total fiasco.

Published 17th October 2023: Recognition Payment Eligibility Concerns

Published 16th October 2023: Recognition payment applications now live!

Published 16th October 2023: Recognition Payment: Application Process Launch Announcement

Published 19th September 2023: Statement made by Victoria Atkins, The Financial Secretary to the Treasury

Published 29th September 2023: Recognition Payment Claim Form: Veteran’s UK update

Published 19th September 2023: Statement made by Victoria Atkins, The Financial Secretary to the Treasury

Published 2nd July 2023: Article in the Sunday Telegraph – Make pension payout tax exempt, say war widows

Published 2nd June 2023: Report of a Meeting with MOD (members only access)

Published 30th May 2023: War Widows Recognition Payment Q&A