In this section
Life events
Change of personal details
If any of your personal details change please let us know by filling in the form below.
Divorce
If you get divorced or dissolve a civil partnership, the Court will take your pension assets into account when determining any settlement. Therefore you and your ex-partner will need to consider how to treat your benefits as part of any divorce settlement.
There are three main ways of treating your pension benefits during a divorce or dissolution:
Pension sharing – the pension is split at the time of divorce or dissolution so that you each receive a separate pension pot and can continue to build pension benefits for the future.
Pension offsetting – you each keep your own pension benefits but adjust the proportion of other assets to take account of the value of the pension benefits. For example, you could keep your pension and your ex-spouse or ex-civil partner could get a larger share of the value of the house.
Pension earmarking – arranging that when one person’s pension benefits start to be drawn down, part of them will be paid to the other person.
Please note that a Court may require a Cash Equivalent Transfer Value and this is not the value of your Annual Benefit Statement. If required, please complete the request form below.
Requesting a Cash equivalent transfer value (CETV) for Divorce
A cash equivalent transfer value or CETV is a monetary value which represents the worth of the benefits to be given up.
You will need to complete our Request CETV for Divorce form to give us the authority to provide you, and your solicitor (if applicable) with the required information.
Once we’ve received your request form we will write to you with the valuation.
What if you remarry or enter into a new civil partnership?
If your LGPS benefits are subject to a Pension Sharing Order and you remarry, enter into a new civil partnership or into a cohabiting partnership, any spouse’s pension, civil partner’s pension or eligible cohabiting partner’s pension payable following your death will also be reduced.
If you remarry or enter into a new civil partnership and then divorce or dissolve your civil partnership again, your remaining pension rights can be subject to further division, although a Pension Sharing Order cannot be issued if an Earmarking Order has already been issued against your LGPS pension rights. Similarly, an Earmarking Order cannot be issued if your pension benefits are already subject to a Pension Sharing Order in respect of the marriage or civil partnership.
Death as a deferred member
The LGPS provides you with peace of mind by providing benefits for your family if you die whilst still a deferred member of the Scheme.
Depending on your circumstances the Scheme can provide:
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A lump sum death payment
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Survivor’s pensions
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Children’s pensions
Have you completed a Death Grant Expression of Wish Form or updated your nomination via the My Cheshire Pension portal?
This benefit is paid if you die and are no longer paying into the Scheme.
If you left the LGPS before 1 April 2008
The lump sum payable on your death is equal to your retirement lump sum payment.
If you left the LGPS after 31 March 2008
The lump sum is 5 times your annual pension.
If you are still paying contributions into the LGPS for another job
The lump sum will be the higher of the death in service grant from your current job, or the death grant from your deferred pension(s).
If you hold more than one deferred benefit in the LGPS
Provided you are not also an active member of the LGPS when you die, a death grant will be payable from each deferred benefit, calculated as above.
When you die, we may be able to pay a pension to your husband/ wife, your civil partner or your cohabiting partner and your dependent children.
For your husband/ wife
Your membership from
1 April 2014
1/160th of the pensionable pay or assumed pensionable pay you received in each year plus a proportion of any transfer of pension rights credited to your pension account.
Your membership up to
31 March 2014
1/160th of your final pay X the period of your membership up to 31 March 2014, upon which your deferred benefit is based.
However, if you marry after leaving the LGPS:
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The survivor’s pension paid to a widow of an opposite sex marriage is based on your membership after 5 April 1978
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The survivor’s pension paid to a widower of an opposite sex marriage is based on your membership after 5 April 1988
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The survivor’s pension of a same sex marriage is based on your membership after 5 April 1978
For your civil partner
Your membership from
1 April 2014
1/160th of the pensionable pay or assumed pensionable pay you received in each year plus a proportion of any transfer of pension rights credited to your pension account.
Your membership up to
31 March 2014
1/160th of your final pay X the period of your membership up to 31 March 2014, upon which your deferred benefit is based.
However, if you enter into a civil partnership after leaving the LGPS:
Your civil partner’s pension would be based on your membership after 5 April 1978 (or on all of your membership if you left the LGPS between 1 April 2008 and 31 March 2014 and you, or your civil partner, made an election before 1 April 2015 for pre 6 April 1988 membership to also count).
For your eligible cohabiting partner
Your membership from
1 April 2014
1/160th of the pensionable pay or assumed pensionable pay you received in each year plus a proportion of any transfer of pension rights credited to your pension account.
Your membership up to
31 March 2014
1/160th of your final pay X the period of your membership from 6 April 1988 up to 31 March 2014, plus any membership before 6 April 1988 if you elected to pay additional contributions to make it count*.
* An election to pay additional contributions to make membership before 6 April 1988 count towards the calculation of cohabiting partner’s pension must have been made before 1 April 2014.
For a cohabiting partner to be entitled to receive a survivor’s pension you must have paid into the LGPS on or after 1 April 2008 and your relationship has to meet certain conditions laid down by the LGPS. (shown below)
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:
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You must have lived with your partner in a permanent exclusive relationship for a minimum of two years
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You must be legally free to marry or to enter into a civil partnership
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You and your partner are living together as if you were husband and wife or as if you were civil partners
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You and your partner must be financially interdependent
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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
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Some examples of financial inter-dependency accepted by HMRC (these are not exhaustive and not all need to be met) are:
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You share a household and its related costs
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You have a joint bank account or mortgage
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You have named each other as beneficiaries in your wills
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To nominate a cohabiting partner, please complete the following form nominating your cohabiting partner.
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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:
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Be under 18 and be wholly or mainly dependant on you, or
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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
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Be unable to engage in gainful employment because of physical or mental impairment and either:
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Has not reached the age of 23, or
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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).
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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:
Your membership from 1 April 2014
One child
1/320th of the pensionable pay or assumed pensionable pay you received in each year plus a proportion of any transfer of pension rights credited to your pension account
Two or more children
1/160th of the pensionable pay or assumed pensionable pay you received in each year plus a proportion of any transfer of pension rights credited to your pension account
Your membership up to 31 March 2014
One child
1/320th of your final pay X the period of your membership in the scheme up to 31 March 2014, upon which your deferred benefit is based
Two or more children
1/160th of your final pay X the period of your membership in the scheme up to 31 March 2014, upon which your deferred benefit is based
If no partner’s pension is being paid to your spouse,civil partner or eligible cohabiting partner:
Your membership from 1 April 2014
One child
1/240th of the pensionable pay or assumed pensionable pay you received in each year plus a proportion of any transfer of pension rights credited to your pension account
Two or more children
1/120th of the pensionable pay or assumed pensionable pay you received in each year plus a proportion of any transfer of pension rights credited to your pension account
Your membership up to 31 March 2014
One child
1/240th of your final pay X the period of your membership in the scheme up to 31 March 2014, upon which your deferred benefit is based
Two or more children
1/120th of your final pay X the period of your membership in the scheme up to 31 March 2014, upon which your deferred benefit is based
Please note the pension may be reduced if your child is receiving pay while in full-time training for a trade, profession or vocation.
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