Death benefits

You are covered for death in service from day one of paying pension contributions. If you die in service before age 75, and you are still paying contributions into the Local Government Pension Scheme, or LGPS Councillor, an amount of two times your career average pay is payable as a death grant.

If you paid additional voluntary contributions (AVCs) through LGPS Councillor, the value of your AVC fund is also payable.

Working out career average pay

In this example, the councillor has been a member of LGPS Councillor for 5 years. Their career average pay is based on all of the fees or pay they have paid pension contributions on, as well as cost of living increases, in line with an inflation measure called the Retail Price Index (RPI).

The amount of membership is the time from when you start paying pension contributions to the date of death.

Example

If the career average pay was £10,579.80 at the date of death, the death grant would be:

£10,579.80 x 2 = £21,159.60

The Clwyd Pension Fund has the discretion about who should receive the death grant. If you fill in an expression of wish form naming your beneficiaries, this helps us pay the death grant to the correct people.

They can be one or more family members, friends, or charities.

You can update your beneficiaries by downloading an Expression of Wish form from our website.

If you are married or in a registered civil partnership, your partner will automatically receive a surviving partner’s pension if you die before them. They will need to send us a copy of the marriage or civil partnership certificate and fill in some claim forms.

A surviving partner’s pension is payable as follows:

• A short-term pension equal to your career average pay, for three months following your death. It can be paid for six months instead if one or more qualifying children are in your surviving partner’s care: see Children’s pensions below
• If you had three or more months’ service in the scheme, a long-term pension will start after the short-term pension ends. This will usually be equal to half the pension you would have received if you had retired early due to ill health on the date of death

Note: If you marry after retiring due to permanent ill health, the surviving partner’s pension will only be half of your basic pension. For example, it will not include any ill health enhancement you received.

If you enter into a civil partnership after retirement, the surviving partner’s pension will be half your pension.

To qualify for a child’s pension, the child must be:

• 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 family member who was dependent on the member when they died

A child sponsored by the member through a registered charity is not an eligible child.

They must also be:

• Under age 18, or
• Aged under 23 and in full-time education or vocational training, or
• Any age and unable to work because of permanent physical or mental impairment and, as a result, dependent on the member when they died. An independent doctor must advise on whether the impairment is likely to be permanent

Children receive a part of your pension. The amount will depend on how many children you have and whether your partner is also receiving a pension.