Death in service

When you die we may be able to pay a pension to your husband/wife or your civil partner or your cohabiting partner and your dependent children.

This will be 1/160th of your pensionable pay multiplied by the total membership you would have built up to your Normal Pension Age.

Nominated Cohabiting Partners – the Scheme includes a cohabiting partner’s pension for dependant partners in both opposite and same sex relationships.  The definition of a qualifying partner is:

• You must have lived with your partner in a permanent exclusive relationship for a minimum of two years,
• You must be legally free to marry or to enter into a civil partnership,
• You and your partner are living together as if you were husband and wife or as if you were civil partners,
• Either your cohabiting partner is and has been financially dependent on you or, you are and have been financially interdependent on each other.

Some examples of financial interdependency accepted by HMRC (these are not exhaustive and not all need to be met) are:

• You share a household and its related costs,
• You have a joint bank account or mortgage,
• You have named each other as beneficiaries in your wills.

Any nomination for a partner’s pension will be void if the conditions above have not been continuously met for at least two years on the day the partnership declaration has been signed.

Cohabiting partner’s pensions are only based on your scheme membership from 6 April 1988. You have to have paid into the LGPS on or after 1 April 2008 for a pension to be payable to your eligible cohabiting partner.

To nominate a cohabiting partner, please complete the following form nominating your cohabiting partner.

Children’s pensions are payable for so long as eligible children remain following your death.  To be eligible your children must at the date of your death:

• Be under 18 and be wholly or mainly dependant on you, or
• Be aged 18 or over and under 23, be dependent on you, and be in full time education or undertaking vocational training (although a dependant child who commences full-time education or vocational training after the date of your death may be treated as an eligible child up to age 23), or
• Be unable to engage in gainful employment because of physical or mental impairment and either:
• Has not reached the age of 23, or
• The impairment is, in the opinion of an independent registered medical practitioner, likely to be permanent and the child was dependent on you at the date of your death because of that mental or physical impairment.  (In this context gainful employment means paid employment for not less than 30 hours in each week for a period of not less than 12 months).
• In all cases, the children must have been born before or within a year of your death.

The amount of pension depends on the number of children you have:

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:

Please note the pension may be reduced if your child is receiving pay while in full-time training for a trade, profession or vocation.