Regulation 41 Survivor benefits: partners of active members

If an active member dies leaving a surviving spouse, civil partner or cohabiting partner, that person is entitled to a pension which shall come into payment on the day following the member's death.

The appropriate administering authority shall close the active member's pension account and shall open a survivor member's pension account from the day following the member's death.

The opening balance of the survivor member's pension account is the amount of pension payable to the survivor calculated in accordance with paragraph (4).

The amount of a pension payable under paragraph (3) is calculated by adding together the amounts in sub-paragraphs (a) and (b)—

For the purposes of paragraph (4)(a), if the member died in the period beginning with 1st April and ending with 5th April in any Scheme year, the pension is deemed to include the revaluation adjustment that would have been due at the next revaluation date.

For the purposes of paragraph (4)(a)(vi), if the member had entered into a QAPA under regulation 16(1) but died before the end of the period the arrangements were due to cease (“the APC Period”), that member is to be treated as having paid the contributions required from the date of the member’s death up to the end of the APC period and the qualifying additional pension bought by those contributions is to be included in the calculation under paragraph (4).

The balance in the survivor member's pension account at the end of the Scheme year in which the survivor member's account was opened is adjusted F8on the revaluation date in the following Scheme year by the revaluation adjustment applicable to the Scheme year in which the survivor member's account was opened F9and F10the revaluation adjustment takes effect from the start of the Scheme year following the Scheme year in which the survivor member’s account was opened,, in accordance with actuarial guidance issued by the Secretary of State.

The F11... balance calculated under paragraph F12(3) is the opening balance of the survivor member's pension account for the following Scheme year and, F13having applied the revaluation adjustment to the balance in accordance with paragraph (5), thereafter, the balance in the account is adjusted each year by the index rate adjustment from the date that an increase would apply if that balance were a pension in payment to which the Pensions (Increase) Act 1971 M1 applied.

Where an index rate adjustment is due to be made on a revaluation date, any such adjustment must be made immediately after the revaluation adjustment is made.

If there is more than one surviving spouse, they become jointly entitled in equal shares under paragraph (1).