The Social Security (Widow's Benefit and Retirement Pensions) Regulations 1979

Substitution of former spouse's [F1or former civil partner's] contribution record to give entitlement to a Category A retirement pension

8.—(1) This regulation applies to—

(a)any person whose last marriage terminated before he attained pensionable age and who did not remarry [F2or, as the case may be, form a civil partnership] before that date;

[F3(aa)any person whose last civil partnership terminated before he attained pensionable age and who did not form a subsequent civil partnership or, as the case may be, marry before that date;]

[F4(b)any man or woman widowed on or after attaining pensionable age [F5or whose civil partner died on or after the man or woman had attained that age], his or her former spouse [F6or former civil partner], as the case may be, being under pensionable age when she or he died; and]

(c)any person [F7, other than one to whom regulation 8A applies,] whose last marriage [F8 or last civil partnership] terminated on or after the date on which he attained pensionable age otherwise than by the death of his spouse [F9or, as the case may be, his civil partner],

and any such person shall be referred to in this regulation as “the beneficiary”.

(2) Where the beneficiary does not, in respect of the year in which his marriage [F10or civil partnership] terminated or any previous year, with his own contribution satisfy the contribution conditions for a Category A retirement pension specified in paragraph 5 of Schedule 3 [F11to the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 (“the 1992 Act”) or the contribution condition for such a pension specified in paragraph 5A of that Schedule to that Act], then, for the purpose of enabling him to satisfy those conditions, the contributions of his former spouse [F12or former civil partner] may, if it is advantageous to him, be treated to the extent specified in paragraphs (3) to (6) as though they were his own.

[F13(3) The beneficiary shall be treated as satisfying the first contribution condition specified in paragraph 5 of Schedule 3 to the 1992 Act if his former spouse or former civil partner—

(a)had satisfied that condition; or

(b)would have satisfied that condition had paragraph 5A of Schedule 3 not been applicable,

as respects any year of his working life up to (inclusive) the year in which the marriage or civil partnership terminated.]

[F14(3A) The beneficiary shall be treated as satisfying the first contribution condition specified in paragraph 5 of Schedule 3 to the 1992 Act if his former spouse or former civil partner would have satisfied that condition had Part 1 of the Pensions Act 2014 not been applicable, as respects any year of his working life up to the year ending on 5th April 2016 (inclusive).]

(4) The beneficiary shall be treated as satisfying the second contribution condition [F15specified in paragraph 5 of Schedule 3 to the 1992 Act or the contribution condition specified in paragraph 5A of that Schedule to that Act] as respects the number of years arrived at under paragraph 2 or 3 of Schedule 1 to these regulations, whichever is the more beneficial to him.

(5) Where a person is entitled for any period to any [F16basic pension] in his Category A retirement pension by virtue of this regulation and regulation 6 [F17or 6A], he shall not be entitled for that period to a section 9(2) increase.

F18(6) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .