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Death benefits

If you die while you are receiving a Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) pension, a cash sum will be payable as a death grant if you meet the following conditions:

If you stopped paying LGPS contributions before 1st April 1998 These older LGPS rules are more complex. We can give you an estimate of the death grant on request.

A death grant may only be payable if you are under age 75 when you die.
If you stopped paying LGPS contributions between 1st April 1998 and 31st March 2008
  • If you have received less than 5 years’ pension payments at date of death, and
  • If you are under age 75 when you die

The death grant will be five times your annual pension less any payments you had already received.
If you stopped paying LGPS contributions on or after 1st April 2008
  • If you have received less than 10 years’ pension payments at date of death, and
  • If you are under age 75 when you die

The death grant will be ten times the amount of your annual pension before you gave up any pension for lump sum, less the pension and lump sum you had already received.

This is worked out slightly differently for any part of your pension you built up before 1st April 2014.

Any death grant must take into account if you have any other pensions in other LGPS Funds. We will check with the other LGPS Funds in England and Wales to see if you have:

  • Any deferred pension accounts with them: that is, you were no longer paying LGPS contributions but not receiving pension payments yet
  • Any active accounts with them: that is, where you still pay LGPS contributions

The grant payable will then be the higher of:

  • The death grant from your deferred or pensioner accounts; or
  • The death-in-service grant.

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 logging into your Member Self Service account.

Or you can download an Expression of Wish form from our website.

If you are married or in a registered civil partnership, your partner may 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.

If you are living with your partner but have never married or entered into a civil partnership with them, they are known as your cohabiting partner. If you were paying contributions into the LGPS on after 1st April 2008, your cohabiting partner may qualify for a partner’s pension on your death. This pension would be based only on your pension membership from 6th April 1988, unless you chose before 1st April 2014 to pay extra contributions for membership before 6th April 1988 to count.

Your cohabiting partner must have met all of these conditions for at least 2 years before your death to qualify:

  • You have both been free to marry or enter into a civil partnership with each other
  • You have lived together as if you were husband, wife, or registered civil partners
  • Neither you nor your partner have been living with someone else as if you were husband, wife, or civil partners with that other person
  • Your partner depends on you financially, or on your joint income, to support your standard of living

Proof of these conditions could be paperwork showing that you lived in a household with shared spending, or that you had a bank account or mortgage in joint names.

A surviving partner’s pension is a percentage of your pension, before giving up any pension for tax-free lump sum, and before any reductions or increases for early or late payment. Generally, this is:

  • 30.625% of the pension you built up from April 2014
  • 37.50% of the pension you built up between April 2008 and March 2014
  • 50% of the pension you built up before April 2008

The surviving partner’s pension is payable for the rest of their life.

Some parts of your pension do not count towards the surviving partner’s pension. These may include:

  • some periods of your pensionable service
  • extra pension you built up by paying additional contributions

The surviving partner’s pension may be lower if you marry or enter into a civil partnership after you have stopped paying LGPS contributions.

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

For this purpose, work means paid employment for at least 30 hours a week, over at least a year.

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

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