If you die after becoming a deferred member, your surviving civil partner may be entitled to a pension. However, the calculation will depend on the date you left the Scheme and whether the civil partnership took place before or after you left active membership of the Scheme.
The pension for your surviving civil partner could be made up of several parts in relation to your different periods of membership. The total pension payable is the sum of pension relating to each part.
Death of a deferred member (left the Scheme after 31 March 2015)
Civil partner’s pension = deceased’s accrued pension (including pensions increases) for membership in the Scheme after 31 March 2015 recalculated as if it had built up at a rate of 1/160th
Plus
any 2009 Scheme survivor pension relating to membership prior to 1 April 2015.
Death of a deferred member (left the Scheme between 1 April 2009 and 31 March 2015)
Civil partner’s pension = 1/160 x deceased’s final pay x deceased’s total membership (plus any relevant additional membership) up to 31 March 2015*.
If civil partnership occurred after leaving, the pension is calculated on the deceased’s post 5 April 1978 membership.
*plus pensions increases
Death of a deferred member (left the Scheme before 1 April 2009)
A short-term pension is payable at the deceased member’s pension rate for three months from the date of death or for six months if eligible children are in the civil partner’s care.
A long-term pension is payable, after the short-term pension ends, at:
1/2 x deceased’s deferred member’s pension (including any pension increase)
EXCEPT please note
- If you entered into a civil partnership after becoming a deferred member, the survivor’s pension is based on membership after 5 April 1978 only, plus any relevant additional membership.