(1) Section 125 of the Principal Act is amended -

(a) in subsection (1) (amended by section 17 of the Act of 2010) by substituting the following paragraph for paragraph (a):

"(a) that the widow, widower or surviving civil partner has qualifying contributions in respect of not less than 260 contribution weeks in the period beginning with his or her entry into insurance and ending immediately before the relevant time, and",

and

(b) by inserting the following subsection after subsection (1):

"(1A) Where the date of death occurs before 27 December 2013, subsection (1) (a) shall be read as if '156' were substituted for '260'.".

(2) This section comes into operation on 27 December 2013.