Widows and widowers will no longer have to inform the authorities that their partner passed away to start receiving a pension.

The authorities will from next week start being automatically informed when someone passes away by the hospital or the residence home they were staying at. The partner of the deceased will then receive a letter informing him or her to go to the district office and take with them their international bank account number (IBAN).

To date widows and widowers had to make a formal claim to start receiving the pension and go through hell to gather the certificate and relevant documents and take them to the district office, Social Solidarity Minister Michael Farrugia said this afternoon.

This should reduce the current delay there was between the time widows applied for a pension and the moment they started receiving an allowance according to the contributions paid by their partner, he added.

Speaking at a press conference, Dr Farrugia said this simplified procedure followed an amendment that allowed widows to receive their full pension even when they earned more than the minimum wage.

Until a few months ago, widows were getting a reduced pension because their income exceeded the national minimum wage and/or had dependent children under the age of 21 who were still in education.

Dr Farrugia noted that till the end of the year three other simplification initiatives related to social security will be announced.

Meanwhile, the government will also be launching a one-stop-shop pilot project in some localities which would act as a customer care office for the government.