LIFE COVER BENEFITS

A lump sum equal to two times your pensionable salary at the time of death will be paid out to either your spouse, or if you are not married at the time of death, to your estate.

For Practitioners the Death in Service lump sum will be two times the average of your pensionable earnings at the time of death.

In addition to the lump sum, if you are married at the time of death, a Spouse’s Pension will also be paid. If you have dependent children, an additional Dependent's Pension Income will also be paid. This will be achieved by the spouse's pension being increased by 50% for the first child and by another 25% if there are two or more children. The dependant's pension is payable until your children reach age 23.

If you have accrued between two and five years’ service at your death, your surviving spouse will only receive a full pension for three months (or six months if there is at least one dependent child). After this initial period, he or she will then receive a pension which is 50% of the amount that would have been paid to you, had you retired on the date of your death.

Where you have accrued more than five years’ service when you die, your spouse will receive a short-term full pension for three months, (or six months if there is one dependent child). He or she will then receive 50% of the amount that would have been paid if you had retired because of ill health on the date of death. Details of this can be found under the Ill Health Retirement section.

Death once a pension is in payment

Your surviving spouse will receive an index-linked pension of 50% of the income that was paid to you, unless you had elected for allocation.

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