Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 section 124B

Operation of section 124A and repeal of section 124-savers

Section 124B provides transitional arrangements to ensure that persons already receiving or entitled to a widow's, widower's, or surviving civil partner's contributory pension at the time the 2025 Act was passed are automatically treated as entitled to the new bereaved partner's pension.

• A woman whose marriage was dissolved (with the dissolution recognised as valid in the State) and who was receiving or would have been entitled to a widow's (contributory) pension at the passing of the 2025 Act is deemed entitled to a bereaved partner's pension, provided she satisfies the conditions in section 124A(1).
• The same protection applies to a man whose marriage was dissolved and who was receiving or would have been entitled to a widower's (contributory) pension, and to a person whose civil partnership was dissolved and who was receiving or would have been entitled to a surviving civil partner's (contributory) pension.
• A person who was entitled to a pension under the old section 124(4) immediately before the 2025 Act was passed continues to receive that pension as if section 124 had not been repealed.
• The terms "widow", "widower", "surviving civil partner", and the corresponding contributory pension descriptions retain the meanings they had before the 2025 Act was passed.