Lump sum death grant
Death grant lump sum amount for members who die in service (Active member)
a lump sum of 3 times your annual salary at your date of death
If you die in service as a member of the LGPS a lump sum death grant is paid, no matter how long you have been a member of the LGPS, provided you are under age 75 at the date of death.
If you also have a deferred benefit and/or a pension in payment from a previous period of membership of the LGPS, the lump sum death grant that will be payable is the greater of:
- the total of any lump sum death grants payable from the deferred and/or pensions in payment
- three times your annual salary at your date of death
Death grant lump sum amount for members who die who have left service (Deferred member)
- If you left the LGPS on or after 1 April 2008: a lump sum of 5 times your deferred annual pension will be payable
- If you left the LGPS before 1 April 2008: a lump sum of 3 times your deferred annual pension will be payable
Where an independent registered medical practitioner certifies that, during the period used to determine your annual salary, you were working reduced contractual hours because of the ill-health which led to death in service, the assumed pensionable pay is calculated on the pay you would have received during that period had you not been working reduced contractual hours.
If you pay Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs), the value of your AVC fund is also payable, as is any extra life cover.
Who is my death grant paid to?
We have absolute discretion over who receives your lump sum death grant but we will take into account your wishes (if stated). Therefore it is very important that you should update your expression of wish on your My Wiltshire Pension (opens new window) account and keep it up to date if your circumstances or wishes change.
As part of exercising our discretion, the death grant can be paid to the person(s) you have nominated on your expression of wish section, to your personal representatives or to any person who appears, at any time, to have been your relative or dependant.
If any part of the death grant has not been paid within two years, it must be paid to your personal representatives, i.e. to your estate.
If you have paid AVCs, we also have absolute discretion over who to pay that sum to, provided that you paid into the LGPS on or after 1 April 2014. If you left the LGPS before 1 April 2014, your AVC lump sum is paid to your estate.
Partner's pension
If you were to die as a member of the LGPS an ongoing pension is provided for your spouse, registered civil partner or, subject to certain qualifying conditions, your eligible cohabiting partner (if you were a member of the LGPS on or after 1 April 2008).
This pension is payable immediately after your death for the rest of their life and will increase every year in line with the cost of living. The pension benefits payable are generally calculated as below:
Child's pension
If you were to die whilst in service children's pensions are payable to eligible children and increase every year in line with the cost of living.
The amount of pension depends on the number of eligible children you have and if a partner's pension is being paid to a spouse, civil partner or eligible co-habiting partner.
Eligible child
- a natural child born before, on or within 12 months of a member's death
- an adopted child born before or on the date of the member's death
- a step-child or a child accepted by the deceased member as a member of the family who was dependent on the member at the date of death.
An eligible child must also be:
- under age 18, or
- aged under 23 and in full-time education or vocational training. Your pension fund can continue to treat a child as an eligible child even if there has been a break in full-time education or vocational training, or
- under age 23 and unable to engage in gainful employment* because of physical or mental impairment, or
- over age 23, unable to engage in gainful employment* because of permanent physical or mental impairment and the child was dependent on the member at the date of death because of that impairment. An independent registered medical practitioner must give their opinion on whether the impairment is likely to be permanent.
*Gainful employment means paid employment for not less than 30 hours in each week for a period of not less than 12 months.
Where a pension is payable to two or more children the pension will be shared equally.
The benefits that are generally payable are set out below:
Short term pension (no longer paying in)
If you left the LGPS before 1 April 2008 a short term pension payable at a higher rate may be payable to your surviving spouse or civil partner for a period of three months (or six months if there is an eligible child in the care of the surviving spouse or civil partner) from the date of death.
This pension is usually equal to the level of your pension, however, if you are a woman the short term pension payable to a widower may be based on your membership of the LGPS after 5 April 1988 only. In addition, if you entered your civil partnership or married after leaving the LGPS the amount of short term pension payable may be less than the value of your pension.
Have you paid in extra?
Additional Pension Contributions (APCs)
If you are paying, or have paid, additional contributions to buy extra LGPS pension by paying APCs or Shared Cost Additional Pension Contributions (SCAPCs), these will not count towards the value of any partner or children's pensions as they only count towards your pension.
Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs)
If you are paying AVCs arranged through the LGPS, the value of your AVC fund is payable as is the value of any extra life cover pension for your eligible partner and/or children paid for through AVCs.
Additional Regular Contributions (ARCs) - pre 2014
If you elected before 1 April 2014 to pay ARCs then, provided you opted to pay for dependant's benefits when you took out your original contract, extra benefits will be payable to your eligible partner and/or children. If you were still paying the ARCs at the date of death you will be deemed to have completed all payments. If you did not opt to pay for dependant's benefits when you took out your original ARC contract, then no extra benefits will be payable.
Added Years - pre 2008
If you elected before 1 April 2008 to buy LGPS added years of membership you will be credited on your death with the whole extra period of membership that you set out to buy, even if you have not completed full payment for it. This will increase the value of the benefits payable to your eligible partner and/or children.
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