Army Pensions Act, 1980

Allowances to certain widows and children.

5.—(1) Where a married officer or a married soldier—

(a) is killed (whether before or after the passing of this Act) in the course of his duty as a member of the forces or in circumstances attributable to his service in the forces, or

(b) receives (whether before or after the passing of this Act) while serving in the forces a wound attributable to such service and dies within four years after receiving such wound in circumstances attributable solely to the wound,

the widow of such officer or soldier (provided she has not remarried) and his children (if any) shall be entitled to an allowance calculated in accordance with subsection (2) of this section.

(2) A widow, who is entitled to an allowance under this section, shall be paid an amount equal to one-half of her husband's annual pay at the date of his death or discharge and every child who is entitled to such an allowance shall be paid an amount equal to—

(a) if his mother is alive, 131/3 per cent of his father's annual pay at the date of his death or discharge,

or

(b) if his mother is dead, 26⅔ per cent of his father's annual pay at the date of his death or discharge:

Provided that the total of the allowances payable in respect of the children in any case shall not exceed forty per cent of the deceased officer's or soldier's, as the case may be, annual pay at the date of his death or discharge.

(3) Where an allowance is granted to a widow or to a child under subsection (1) of this section—

(a) no pension shall be payable to the widow or to the child under the contributory pensions schemes administered by the Minister for the benefit of the widows and children of deceased officers and soldiers and any contributions deducted from the pay of the deceased officer or soldier, as the case may be, under those schemes shall be refunded to the next of kin of such officer or soldier and there shall be no liability under those schemes for lump sum deductions;

(b) no pension shall be payable to the widow or to the child under the ex-gratia pension scheme administered by the Minister for the benefit of the widows and children of deceased soldiers;

(c) no pension shall be payable to the widow or to the child of a deceased officer under Article 20 of the Defence Forces (Pensions) Scheme, 1937;

(d) no allowance shall be payable to the widow or to the child under section 15 (2) of the Act of 1927.

(4) Sections 9 to 14 of the Act of 1923, sections 7, 15 (3) and 21 of the Act of 1927, section 2 of the Act of 1949 and section 13 of the Act of 1959 shall apply to an allowance granted under this section.

(5) In this section—

“child” means a person who is under the age of 16 years or, if such person is pursuing a full-time course of education, a child who is under the age of 21 years.

“annual pay at the date of his death or discharge” means such annual pay as adjusted from time to time and reflected in the Army Pensions (Increase) Regulations made under section 7 of the Act of 1968.

(6) This section shall be deemed to have come into operation on the 1st day of March, 1975.