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Autumn 2003 Newsletter

No joy for the widowers

Widow's bereavement allowance was a tax relief available to widows in the year their husband died and the following year. It was abolished at the end of the 1999/2000 tax year. A number of men have argued with the Revenue that the obvious discrimination against men, who were entitled to nothing when their wives died, was contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights.

One claimant took the Revenue to the European Court of Human Rights, but the Revenue settled out of court. As a result, they avoided creating a legal precedent, and the most recent case found the UK Court of Appeal unwilling to go against the clear words of the UK law and give the claimant satisfaction. Although the Revenue promise to treat taxpayers in the same way if they are in the same situation, it seems that "the same situation" means "suing us at Strasbourg" rather than "having lost your wife".

The claimant may take the case further, but it seems that the Revenue intend to resist this idea as far as they can. Although the amount of money involved in the tax relief cannot be very great, it is possible that the authorities are concerned that a precedent might also apply to social security benefits, where widows again receive a much larger amount than widowers.

The recent unsuccessful claimant was Mr Wilkinson. The Revenue settled with Mr Crossland, and also with another claimant, Mr Fielding.