Widow hit by benefit change

By RENEE KIRIONA

When is a widow not a widow? When your husband is dead but you were not married for five years or more, according to Work and Income.

Shirley Wright, 59, of Te Aroha, is distraught that she was denied a widow's pension from the Government department because she had not been married to her husband long enough.

In early April, her husband of four years died of cancer. About 18 months before his death she finished work to care for him and was initially granted the widow's pension.

"When I returned from taking his ashes to Australia, they cancelled it, saying we had not been married long enough," Mrs Wright said.

"I spoke to my lawyer about this and he just could not believe it. In the eyes of the law and everyone else, I'm a widow - except when it comes to Work and Income."

The widow's benefit is income-tested, and intended to provide a secure income to those widows who have been out of the workforce for some time. Among the grounds for getting the benefit, according to Work and Income, are being "married at least five years and widowed after age 50 ... married means legally married or living as husband and wife".

Associate Minister of Social Development Rick Barker said he would not comment until he had more information.

Green Party MP Sue Bradford, a veteran beneficiaries' rights activist, said the department should have been more flexible.

"It's totally unjust that she had to be taken through such trauma, and it highlights a need to look very hard at this policy," Ms Bradford said.

Asked her definition of widow, she replied: "A woman whose husband dies - end of story."

However, Work and Income said it had no plans to review the policy. Mrs Wright was denied the widow's pension, it said, because she could not provide verification of her relationship before the marriage.

"Before we got married, we lived together for 16 months," said Mrs Wright, "but we didn't put our assets into joint names until we got married."

After long discussions with the department she has just been granted an invalid's benefit because of an injury sustained during her last job.

This, she said, made her "one of the lucky ones. But there are other women out there who could one day face the same situation".

The criteria

The benefit varies from $168.38 a week for someone with no children to $231.53 for a person with one and $252.60 for two or more.

You may be able to get a widow's benefit if you are a woman whose partner has died and

You have dependent children living with you or

You were married at least 15 years, and had children or

You had dependent children for at least 15 years while married or widowed or

You were married at least five years and widowed after age 50 or

You are 50 or over now, were married at least 15 years ago for 10 years or more, and widowed after age 40 (if you were married more than once, the total number of years you were married is counted).