Protection for your family
Death Grant
If you die in service as a member of the LGPS there is a lump sum death grant equal to 3 times your assumed pensionable pay.
To give details of a beneficiary or beneficiaries for any death grant payable, or to alter a previous notification, please complete a “Death Grant Nomination Form”.
Irrespective of whether or not you complete a “Death Grant Nomination Form", the administering authority retains absolute discretion regarding who the death grant is paid to, taking into account the wishes expressed by the member.
Survivors’ Pension
If you die in service as a member of the LGPS a spouse’s, civil partner’s or, subject to qualifying conditions, an eligible co-habiting partner’s pension and pensions for eligible children are payable. To view the qualifying conditions for an eligible co-habiting partner and/or eligible children please click the dropdown links below.
If you are in the 50/50 section of the scheme when you die this does not impact on the value of any pension for your spouse, civil partner, eligible cohabiting partner or eligible children.
Eligible cohabiting partner
An eligible cohabiting partner is a partner you are living with who, at the date of your death, has met all of the following conditions for a continuous period of at least 2 years:
- you and your cohabiting partner are, and have been, free to marry each other or enter into a civil partnership with each other, and
- you and your cohabiting partner have been living together as if you were husband and wife, or civil partners, and
- neither you or your cohabiting partner have been living with someone else as if you/they were husband and wife or civil partners, and
- either your cohabiting partner is, and has been, financially dependent on you or you are, and have been, financially interdependent on each other.
Your partner is financially dependent on you if you have the highest income. Financially interdependent means that you rely on your joint finances to support your standard of living. It doesn’t mean that you need to be contributing equally. For example, if your partner’s income is a lot more than yours, he or she may pay the mortgage and most of the bills, and you may pay for the weekly shopping.
On your death, a survivor’s pension would be paid to your cohabiting partner if:
- all of the above criteria apply at the date of your death, and
- your cohabiting partner satisfies your pension fund that the above conditions had been met for a continuous period of at least 2 years immediately prior to your death.
You are not required to complete a form to nominate a cohabiting partner for entitlement to a cohabiting partner’s pension. However, you can provide us with your cohabiting partner’s details. We will require evidence upon your death to check that the conditions for a cohabiting partner's pension are met.
Eligible children
Eligible children are your children. They must, at the date of your death:
- be your natural child (who must be born within 12 months of your death), or
- be your adopted child, or
- be your step-child or a child accepted by you as being a member of your family (this doesn’t include a child you sponsor for charity) and be dependent on you.
Eligible children must meet the following conditions:
- be under age 18, or
- be aged 18 or over and under 23 and in full-time education or vocational training (although your administering authority can continue to treat the child as an eligible child notwithstanding a break in full-time education or vocational training), or
- be unable to engage in gainful employment because of physical or mental impairment and either:
- has not reached the age of 23, or
- the impairment is, in the opinion of an independent registered medical practitioner, likely to be permanent and the child was dependent on you at the date of your death because of that mental or physical impairment.
