Widows’ pensions campaigner steps back after court ruling

8 January 2023

Kate Hall (second from right, holding the campaign banner) during a lobbying event at Parliament.

Police pensions campaigner Kate Hall is standing down after her tireless eight-year battle to stop police survivors having to choose between companionship and financial security suffered another legal blow.

Kate announced her decision after the Court of Appeal upheld a ruling which prevents surviving partners of police officers in the 1987 pension scheme keeping their pension if they remarry or cohabit with a partner.

Changes to the regulations allowing all survivors to keep their pensions for life came into force in 2006 but campaigners had steadfastly fought for changes to the 1987 regulations.

Critics say the latest ruling means police widows and widowers are still forced to choose between love and money and even the judges recognised “the unfortunate potential effects of Regulation C9 upon the appellants”.

But they upheld Mr Justice Fordham’s ruling from last May which dismissed the campaigners’ demands for a change in regulations to create a UK-wide policy allowing those who remarry or cohabit after the loss of their police officer spouse to retain their pension entitlement in full.

The National Association of Retired Police Officers (NARPO), which has spearheaded the campaign in recent years alongside Kate, has been advised against taking the case to the Supreme Court but has vowed to continue the fight outside the courts.

In an emotional message to supporters, Kate, whose West Midlands Police dog-handler husband PC Colin Hall died on duty in 1987, said she felt she could not take the campaign any further forward.

Posting an update to supporters, she said: “I am currently feeling very empty as our cause gave my life purpose and I wanted so very much to be celebrating our victory with you rather than writing about our terrible misfortune.

“At its inception ours was an economic campaign – it was about the money. But it rapidly became more about principle and justice and about the service and sacrifice of our loved ones.

“Then you trusted me with so many of your personal stories, some of which have reduced me to tears, and our campaign became about the widespread misery caused by Regulation C9.

“Some of your stories have also made me smile - as police survivors we have more than our fair share of humour, patience, and resilience.

“Gradually we came together to form a kind of online support network. I hadn’t known just how many police survivors were out there in a similar situation to me and it has felt like coming home.

“Thank you all for being part of the team. Believe me when I say you will always have a place in my heart and I’m so grateful for your hard work and support.

“I include in my thanks those individuals that have been campaigning that I have no knowledge of or contact with. I hope that somehow my thanks will reach them.”

Colin Hall served with the West Midlands Police for 21 years. On Sunday 29 November 1987, he was dispatched with a number of his colleagues to tackle a disturbance at a block of flats and, having dealt with the incident, he suffered a heart attack and died at the scene at the age of 40. Kate was 24 at the time with a four-year-old daughter.

She began her campaign in June 2014 calling for a UK-wide policy on survivors’ pensions which would see those who remarry or cohabit after the loss of their spouse retain their pension entitlement in full regardless of how their spouse died. Her campaign also called for reinstatement of pensions revoked due to remarriage or cohabitation.  

This is the current model in Northern Ireland and is the UK-wide policy for the majority of widows, widowers and civil partners of armed forces personnel.

Kate’s campaign achieved an amendment to the Police (Injury Benefit) Regulations 2006 which came into force on 18 January 2016.

The widows, widowers and civil partners of police officers killed in the line of duty and covered by the 1987 Police Pension Regulations now receive their pensions for life if they were in receipt of a special or augmented pension and remained unmarried and were not living with a partner by 1 April 2015.

The survivors of firefighters killed on duty also benefit from these changes.

Reacting to the latest Court of Appeal ruling, NARPO president Richard Critchley said: “This is a bitter blow for our members – the partners of deceased police officers.

“The sorrow of bereavement was made worse by a failure of the courts to recognise the impact these outdated regulations have on their lives, overriding their right to marry under Article 12.

“It is equally devastating for us at NARPO who have supported them as far as we can. This is not the end of the fight, and we will continue this battle outside of the courts.”

Mark McGhee, counsel to NARPO, said: “We are deeply disappointed for all of the victims of regulation C9 who will now be forced to continue to choose between love and money.

“We have considered all options and regrettably we cannot advise on an appeal, but hope that this fight will continue outside of the courts.”