Foreword
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In November 1999 the Inland Revenue agreed to make Mr Christopher Crossland a payment equivalent to Widow’s Bereavement Tax Allowance, to which widowers were not legally entitled, after he had taken his case to the European Court of Human Rights. In July 2000 the former Department of Social Security (now the Department for Work and Pensions which, for clarity, I refer to throughout) agreed to a similar settlement of Mr David Cornwell’s claim for a payment equivalent to Widow’s Benefits, to which widowers also were not legally entitled, after he had taken his case to the European Court.
My Office has to date received 66 complaints that the Inland Revenue acted unfairly by refusing to treat other claims in the same way as they had dealt with Mr Crossland’s case and a further six complaints that the Department for Work and Pensions did not treat other cases in the same way as they had treated Mr Cornwell.Complaints have been referred by 65 different Members of Parliament.
My Office investigated two cases representative of those complaints - one against the Inland Revenue referred to my predecessor by Ms Elizabeth Blackman MP and one against the Department for Work and Pensions referred by Mr Douglas Hogg MP.
At the time my predecessor initiated the investigation into the complaint against the Department for Work and Pensions, the matters complained about were the subject of judicial review proceedings brought by several other widowers. After he had initiated the investigation into the complaint against the Inland Revenue, the maters complained about also became subject to such proceedings. Those proceedings resulted in declarations of incompatibility between the European Convention on Human Rights and, in the Inland Revenue case, section 262 of the Income and Corporation Tax Act 1988 and, in the Department for Work and Pensions case, sections 36 and 37 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992. Because of appeals, those domestic legal proceedings have not yet concluded.
In the meantime, legislative changes enacted by the Finance Act 1999 and the Welfare Reform and Pensions Act 1999 had removed any distinction between the way in which men and women are treated for tax and social security purposes when they are widowed.
In both investigations initiated my Office found that, insofar as there was injustice for the complainants, that injustice had derived from legislation rather than from maladministration by the departments concerned. We therefore discontinued those investigations.
As matters relating to the nature of legislation and its effects on individuals are not for me but are for Parliament to consider and, as I judge that it will be of assistance to Parliament and the public if I publish the facts that my Office has established, I have decided to lay this report before each House of Parliament in accordance with section 10(4) of the Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967. The letters to the referring Members in relation to the individual cases are contained in the annex to this report.
Ann Abraham
Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration(the Ombudsman)
December 2002
