Protection for your family
The LGPS provides valuable protections for your family if you die whilst in receipt of your LGPS pension.
Take a look at this short video to find out more.
Benefits payable are in part dependent on the Regulations that were in force at the point you left pensionable employment, so this is a particularly complex area.
If you die on pension as a member of the LGPS, the following benefits are payable:
A lump sum death grant
If you retired and left the LGPS before 1st April 1998
The calculation of the death grant depends on whether you have more than, or less than, 10 years service that counts towards the calculation of your pension benefits. The calculation is complex and you can ask your pension fund administrator for an estimate of the amount that may be payable, if applicable.
If you retired and left the LGPS from 1st April 1998 to 31st March 2008
A lump sum death grant will be paid if you die and less than 5 years pension has been paid and you are under age 75 at the age of death. The amount payable would be:
If you retired and left the LGPS after 31st March 2008
A lump sum death grant will be paid if you die and less than 10 years pension has been paid and you are under age 75 at the date of death. The amount payable would be:
A survivor’s pension
This is an ongoing pension that is provided for your spouse or civil partner. It is payable immediately on your death for the rest of their life and will increase every year in line with the cost of living.
If you are retired and left the LGPS after 31st March 2008 a survivor’s pension may also be provided to your co-habiting partner.
To be an eligible cohabiting partner, at the time of your death and for a continuous period of at least 2 years before:
- your partner must have been financially dependent upon you, or you were financially interdependent, and
- both you and your partner must:
- have been able to marry or form a civil partnership with each other,
- have been living together as if you were married to, or in a civil partnership with, each other, and
- have not been living with a third person as if married to, or in a civil partnership, with them.
Your partner is financially dependent on you if you have the highest income. Financially interdependent means that you rely on your joint finances to support your standard of living. It doesn’t mean that you need to be contributing equally. For example, if your partner’s income is a lot more than yours, he or she may pay the mortgage and most of the bills, and you may pay for the weekly shopping.
Children’s pensions
These pensions are payable to your eligible children and increase every year in line with the cost of living. The amount of pension payable depends on the number of eligible children you have.