Gay ex-Army officer wins landmark ruling on husband’s pension

A GAY man yesterday won a landmark victory to give his husband the same pension rights as a wife would receive.

The Supreme Court ruling means that if John Walker dies, his husband can claim a spousal pension of £ 45,700 a year instead of £1,000.

The win for Old Harrovian former cavalry officer Mr Walker, 66, and his computer executive husband, 52, is likely to benefit thousands of gay couples.

Five justices overturned the law stating that gay partners could not claim the same share of a pension as a heterosexual spouse if the pension was built up before 2005, when civil partnerships were first introduced.

Pension schemes are now estimated to face a bill of £120million to fund equal pensions for gay couples. Mr Walker, a retired chemical company manager, called the ruling ‘a victory for basic fair- Legal battle: John Walker ness and decency’. He said: ‘Finally this absurd injustice has been consigned to the history books, and my husband and I can now get on with enjoying the rest of our lives together.

‘It is to our Government’s great shame that it has taken so many years, huge amounts of taxpayers’ money and the UK’s highest court to drag them into the 21st century.’ The legal battle began nearly six years ago after Mr Walker’s com- pany, Innospec, refused to offer a full spouse’s pension to his husband, on the grounds that the pension contributions were made before the first civil partnerships were solemnised in December 2005. That decision was upheld by the Court of Appeal in 2015.

Most pension schemes give 50 per cent of the value of a pension to a spouse for the rest of their lives after their husband or wife dies, without taking marriage date into account.

Mr Walker had worked for Innospec from 1980 until his retirement in 2003. He has lived with his partner since 1993 and the couple had a civil partnership in January 2006. They married after the introduction of same-sex marriage in 2014. However, citing the 2010 Equality Act, the Supreme Court judges yesterday said: ‘It is lawful to discriminate against an employee who is in a civil partnership or same-sex marriage by preventing or restricting them from having access to a benefit the right to which accrued before 5 December 2005.’

They added: ‘If Mr Walker was married to a woman, or indeed if he married a woman in the future, she would be entitled on his death to a spouse’s pension of about £45,700 a year. As things stand at present, Mr Walker’s husband will be entitled to a pension of about £1,000 a year, the statutory guaranteed minimum.’

The five Supreme Court judges, led by Deputy President Lady Hale, unanimously said the law should be overturned and a full spouse’s pension must be paid.

They said the terms of the Equality Act are incompatible with EU law – which Britain must continue to obey until Brexit – and should no longer have legal force.

Mr Walker said: ‘ What I would like from Theresa May and her ministers is a formal commitment that this change will stay on the statute books after Brexit.’

A spokesman for the Department of Work and Pensions said: ‘We are reviewing the implications of this judgment in detail and will respond in due course.’

‘Victory for basic fairness’