Death grants – underpin protection does not change the death grant if you die as an active member, as the death grant is a multiple of your pay and not the pension that you have built up.
If you die after taking your pension, then the death grant is calculated based on your annual pension. If your pension is increased because of the underpin, then the death grant will be increased too.
If you die as a deferred member, the death grant is calculated on your yearly deferred pension. If you are protected by the underpin, the provisional underpin figures from when you left the Scheme are used to work out if your pension should be increased. If an increase applies, then the death grant will be increased too.
Death grant paid before 1 October 2023 – NILGOSC will review death grants paid before 1 October 2023 for deceased protected deferred and pensioner members. If underpin protection means a higher death grant should have applied, then the difference will be paid.
NILGOSC has thousands of payments to review so it will take some time to work through the exercise.
In most cases, the deceased member’s pension will not increase because of underpin protection and the death grant will not increase.
Survivor pensions – these are payable to your spouse, civil partner, cohabiting partner or eligible children after your die. If you are protected by the underpin, then NILGOSC will work out whether any survivors’ pensions should be increased to reflect the part of the increase that would have applied to your pension. Any adjustments to your pension because of early or late retirement are ignored when working out the survivor pension and any increase.
NILGOSC will review any eligible survivors’ pensions that started before 1 October 2023. If the pension should have been increased, then we will pay arrears and interest.
NILGOSC has thousands of payments to review so it will take some time to work through the exercise.