Their son, Simon Henig, is the former leader of the Durham County Council, former chair of the North East Combined Authority, and a lecturer in politics at Sunderland University.

Henig was educated at Wyggeston Girls Grammar School in Leicester, and at Bedford College, London, where she graduated in 1965 with a B.A.

Henig served as Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities from 1997 to 2000, and in April 2006, she was one of six people to receive the first Honorary Fellowships of Lancaster University.

[2] At the 1992 general election, she stood as Labour candidate for her husband's former parliamentary seat of Lancaster.

Having stepped down as chair from the SIA after six years in March 2013, Henig continued to work towards building a unified voice for the industry having just been appointed president of The Security Institute in April 2016.

Henig was also a keen football fan, supporting Leicester City FC for over 60 years.