There’s a certain irony that deputies will shortly be debating the fairness of having removed widows’ pensions at a time when their own generously-funded retirement arrangements have been in the spotlight.

States members, unlike those women who have been bereaved and not only lost their husband but their income as well, are in the fortunate position of voting for themselves benefits which – reporting by this newspaper has disclosed – no one else has.

By now, it is well established that for every £1 a deputy puts into their pension pot, the taxpayer places a further £4.

What is not so well understood, however, is that when changes were made to the States members’ pension scheme in 2006, deputies ensured a further bonus for themselves. While most arrangements are based on accrual rates of 1/60th or 1/80th of pensionable service, deputies currently enjoy a rate of about 1/42nds.

As mycompanypension.co.uk dryly notes, ‘the lower the bottom number, the better the pension benefit you will receive for an equivalent amount of pensionable service’.

So while they’ve made their own arrangements largely at the taxpayers’ expense, it is increasingly clear that the earlier decision to take provisions away from widows is hurting a number of island women.

While there is a basic argument about fairness and helping the vulnerable, Social Security will resist on the grounds of cost and States members, with a view towards the looming general election and their own cosseted circumstances, will naturally wish to appear compassionate.

However, any attempt to place extra expense on the taxpayer or those who pay social security contributions must be resisted because the States itself has failed to curb its own costs.

Yet there is a simple way of releasing money into the system.

The amount islanders put into the deputies’ pension scheme in 2009 was £198,000, a considerable sum of  money, especially compared with the £175.39 a week that a 45-year-old widow receives for herself and her family.

In fact, what goes to the deputies would fund about 20 widows’ pensions a year, which should help to put the debate into context.