Survivor benefits

A lump sum of three times your assumed pensionable pay at your date of death is paid, no matter how long you have been a member of the Scheme, provided that you are under age 75 at the date of death.

If you also have a deferred benefit and/or a pension in payment from a previous period of membership of the LGPS, the lump sum that will be payable is the greater of:

• The total of any lump sum payable from the deferred and/or pensions in payment; or
• Three times your assumed pensionable pay at your date of death.

If you pay Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs), the value of your AVC fund is payable in addition to the lump sum death grant.

The lump sum death grant is paid as a discretionary benefit, therefore it generally does not form part of your estate. To ensure your wishes are taken into consideration if a lump sum death grant becomes payable, we would encourage you to regularly complete an expression of wish form. You can obtain a copy of the form by using this link.

If you were to die whilst in service an ongoing pension is provided for your spouse, registered civil partner or, subject to certain qualifying conditions, your eligible cohabiting partner (please note that for a cohabiting partner to be entitled to receive a survivor's pension your relationship has to meet certain conditions laid down by the Scheme). This pension is payable immediately after your death for the rest of their life and will increase every year in line with the cost of living.

Please note that if your pension is subject to a Pension Sharing Order issued by the Court following an earlier divorce or dissolution of a civil partnership, or is subject to a qualifying agreement in Scotland, your spouse's, civil partner's or eligible cohabiting partner's pension will be reduced because of that Court Order or agreement.

The pension benefits payable are generally calculated as described in the tables below:

For your spouse (from an opposite sex or same sex marriage) or civil partner

For your eligible cohabiting partner

For more information please contact us.

If you were to die whilst in service, a pension may be payable to your eligible child/children. This pension will be payable until the day before the child reaches age 18 (or until the day before the child reaches age 23 if they continue in full time education) and is revalued every year in line with the cost of living. The amount of pension depends on the number of eligible children you have and if a partner's pension is being paid to your spouse, civil partner or eligible co-habiting partner.

The benefits that are generally payable is described below:

If a partner's pension is being paid to your spouse, civil partner or eligible cohabiting partner:

If no partner's pension is being paid to your spouse, civil partner or eligible cohabiting partner:

If you have paid additional contributions these will be treated as follows:

• If you paid additional contributions to buy extra LGPS pension by paying Additional Pension Contributions (APCs) (or Shared Cost Additional Pension Contributions (SCAPCs)) these will not count towards the value of any children's pensions as they only count towards your pension.
• If you elected before 1 April 2014 to pay Additional Regular Contributions (ARCs) then, provided you opted to pay for dependant's benefits when you took out your original contract, extra benefits will be payable to your eligible children. If you were still paying the ARCs at the date of death you will be deemed to have completed all payments. If you did not opt to pay for dependant's benefits when you took out your original ARC contract, then no extra benefits will be payable.
• If you elected before 1 April 2008 to buy LGPS added years of membership and you were still paying theses additional contributions at the date of death it will be deemed you have completed all payments. This will increase the value of the benefits payable to your eligible children.
• If you paid Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs) arranged through the LGPS (in-house AVCs) the value of your AVC fund is also payable.

For more information on your specific benefits (including your benefit statement) go to member self service or contact us.