31 August 2007

FOURTH SECTION
Application no. 13913/05
by David COLLINGBORN
against the United Kingdom
lodged on 11 April 2005

STATEMENT OF FACTS
THE FACTS
The applicant, Mr David Collingborn, is a British national who was born in 1933 and lives in Gosport.
A.  The circumstances of the case
The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicant, may be summarised as follows.
The applicant was widowed in March 1990. Before her death his wife had been in receipt of a full State pension, plus an additional “graduated pension” (“GP”) of GBP 1.04 per week and “State earnings related pension” (“SERPS”) of GBP 1.32 per week.
The applicant expected to inherit half the GP and all the SERPS when he reached retirement age in January 1998 (then worth approximately GBP 3.00 a week), as a widow in his position or a widowed man who had reached retirement age before his wife’s death would have done.
On 4 May 2001 and again on 16 October 2002 and 15 July 2003 the Pension Service responded to the applicant’s enquiries about inherited SERPS that he did not meet the relevant criteria.
The applicant also applied for bereavement benefits and was refused. His appeal was refused by the Social Security Commissioners on 8 May 2004.
On 18 October 2004 he was refused permission to apply for judicial review of this decision and of the failure to pay him his wife’s SERPS entitlement on the grounds that (1) the Commissioners were bound to refuse the appeal about bereavement benefits and (2) the Social Security Commissioners had not considered the SERPS issue and judicial review was not available to challenge a decision which an inferior tribunal had not in fact made.
B.  Relevant domestic law
The maximum percentage of SERPS entitlement which can be passed on to the surviving spouse when the contributor dies depends on whether the surviving spouse is male or female and the dates of birth and death of the contributing spouse. The rules as from 6 October 2002 are set out in the table below:

Maximum %
SERPS entitlement for surviving
husband or wife	Date when deceased wife/ husband would reach state pension age	Date of birth of contributor : Husband	Date of birth of contributor :
Wife
	
100%	5.10.2002 or earlier	5.10.37 or earlier	5.10.42 or earlier	
90%	6.10.2002 – 5.10.04	6.10.1937 – 5.10.39	6.10.1942 – 5.10.44	
80%	6.10.2004 – 5.10.06	6.10.1939 – 5.10.41	6.10.1944 – 5.10.46	
70%	6.10.2006 – 5.10.08	6.10.1941 – 5.10.43	6.10.1946 – 5.10.48	
60%	6.10.2008 – 5.10.10	6.10.1943 – 5.10.45	6.10.1948 – 5.07.50	
50%	6.10.2010 or later	6.10.1945 or later	6.07.1950 or later	

COMPLAINT
The applicant complains under Article 14 of the Convention that, because he is a man, he was neither entitled to “inherit” his late wife’s SERPS entitlement nor to receive bereavement benefits, whereas a woman in his position would have received this additional income.

QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES

1.  Would a widow in the applicant’s situation automatically receive part or all of her late husband’s SERPS entitlement without needing to apply (in contrast, for example, to the position as regards widows’ benefits, see Cornwell v. the United Kingdom (dec.), no. 36578/97, 11 May 1999).

2.  In the light of the response to question (1) above:
(a) can the applicant claim to be a victim of any violation, within the meaning of Article 34 of the Convention?
(b) is the situation about which the applicant complains a continuing situation, or is there a final domestic decision or other event which should constitute the starting point for the six months time limit under Article 35 of the Convention?

3.  Has the applicant done all that can be expected of him to exhaust domestic remedies?

4.  Could the Government provide full clarification of the inherited SERPS scheme as it applies to male and female surviving spouses. Is there a difference in treatment between men and women in the applicant’s position, and/or between men of different ages?

5.  If so, is any difference in treatment reasonably and objectively justified?