Partner and children's pensions if you die in service

If you die in service, there are annual pensions payable for a qualifying partner and children. These pensions are payable for life and are in addition to the one-off death grant.

You can tell us about anyone that may be entitled to your survivor’s pension using My Pension Online, but you don’t have to.

We will ask for evidence and relevant documents before paying out any survivor’s pensions.

Unlike the death grant, you can’t choose who you want to receive a surviving partner’s pension. It can only be paid to:

• a married partner
• a civil partner
• an eligible cohabiting partner

Even if you are separated from a spouse or civil partner or living with someone else at the time of your death, under LGPS Regulations, they will receive the surviving partner’s pension unless you are divorced or have had the civil partnership dissolved.

For a cohabiting partner to receive a survivor’s pension, you and your partner must have, for a period of at least two years before you die:

• been free to marry or form a civil partnership
• lived together as if married or in a civil partnership
• not lived with anyone else as if married or in a civil partnership
• been financially dependent on each other, or your partner was financially dependent on you

We will request evidence to ensure the criteria is met. This evidence could consist of joint bank account statements, utility bills, mortgage, lease or tenancy agreements. However, it’s important to understand that we don’t have an exact list of documents we require, only that whatever is presented is enough to meet the criteria. It is up to your partner to arrange and supply this evidence. Once we have this, we will decide if we need further evidence or if the criteria are met.

Membership used in the calculation of a cohabiting partner’s pension will only be for benefits built up after 5 April 1988, unless you made an election to pay additional contributions before 1 April 2014 to ensure earlier membership was included.

An estimate of the surviving partner’s pension is shown on your Annual Benefit Statement. You can also get an estimate using My Pension Online.

If you paid into the LGPS between 6 April 1978 and 5 April 1997 you will have a protection included in your benefits known as a Guaranteed Minimum Pension (GMP).

You may also have a GMP if you transferred in service from another scheme in which you had a GMP. If you have GMP protection, a surviving spouse or civil partner is entitled to receive this protection in the calculation of a surviving partner’s pension.

Widowers and civil partners will only receive GMP protection in the calculation of pension benefits built-up between 6 April 1988 and 5 April 1997.

There are also pensions payable to children who are:

• aged under 18
• aged between 18 and 23 and in full-time education, or
• suffering from a mental or physical impairment that stops them working at least 30 hours a week for a period of at least 1 year

Children eligible to receive a pension are:

• a natural child, including those born within 12 months of your death
• an adopted child, born before your death
• a stepchild or a child dependent on you at the date of your death and accepted by you as a member of the family (excluding sponsored children through a registered charity)

We will request evidence that children between 18 and 23 are in full time education. If the child’s application is based on the criteria for physical or mental impairment, we will also require evidence.

We will also need evidence to prove the child’s relationship to you and their dependence on you at the date of death. There are no set criteria for what this evidence must be. This evidence will need to be supplied by the child’s guardian or surviving parent. We will be unable to award a child’s pension where the evidence is insufficient.

The amount a child receives depends on how many eligible children you have and if a surviving partner’s pension is also being paid.

If there is no surviving partner’s pension being paid, a child’s pension is worked out based on 1/240th of your pensionable pay. For two or more children it is based on 1/120th of your pensionable pay.

If there is a surviving partner’s pension being paid, one child’s pension is worked out based on 1/320th of your pensionable pay. For two or more children, it is based on 1/160th of your pensionable pay.

• pensions for dependants and surviving partners are counted as earned income and therefore subject to income tax
• if the value of the pension pot is small enough to be fully extinguished by a single lump‑sum payment, the person receiving it may be able to give up their LGPS pension rights in exchange for this. This is called trivial commutation. This option only applies to the pension received from us and any payment made is at our discretion using factors from the Government Actuary’s Department
• if you have more than one LGPS pension account, survivor’s pensions will be payable in respect of each. However, if you have a deferred pension which you stopped paying into before 1 April 2008, a cohabiting partner would not be entitled to receive the survivor’s pension
• printed payslips will be provided in line with our policy. More information about receiving a pension from us can be found here: Receiving a pension

The way you can pay extra towards your benefits has changed over the years and some extra pension payments will not count towards the calculation of survivor’s pensions.

• extra pension purchased by paying towards an APC (Additional Pension Contributions) or a SCAPC (Shared Cost Additional Pension Contributions) will not count towards the calculation of survivor pension benefits
• there are no survivor pensions payable for ARCs (Additional Regular Contributions) paid before 1 April 2014, unless you specifically paid extra to provide them
• any membership purchased through LGPS added years (before 1 April 2008) will be included in the calculation of children’s pensions but will only be included for surviving partner’s pensions if you were married, cohabiting or in a civil partnership with them while you were still contributing