The Local Government Pension Scheme Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2014

Survivor benefits: partners of pensioner members N.I.

52.—(1) If a pensioner member (other than a pensioner member where the pension the member was in receipt of was derived from a pension credit) dies leaving a surviving spouse, civil partner or F1 ... co-habiting partner, that person is entitled to a pension which shall come into payment on the day following the member's death.

(2) The Committee shall close the pensioner member's pension account and shall open a survivor member's pension account from the day following the member's death.

(3) 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).

(4) The amount of a pension payable under paragraph (3) is calculated by adding together the pension that the member would have been entitled to draw on the date of the member's death if—

(a) the member's earned pension [F2 (including any amount added under regulations 39(1)(a) or 39(2)(a) (enhancement of member’s tier 1 and tier 2 ill-health benefits)) ] had accrued at a rate of 1/160th of pensionable pay;

(b) the pension had not been subject to any actuarial adjustment relating either to the age at which it was drawn or following a Scheme Pays Election;

(c) there had been no commutation under regulation 34 (election for lump sum instead of pension);

(d) the pension excluded any additional pension purchased under regulation 18 (additional pension contributions) and any additional pension awarded under regulation 32 (award of additional pension);

(e) the pension included 30.625% of any additional pension purchased under regulation 19(7)(b)(i) (additional voluntary contributions); and

(f) the amount of earned pension credited under regulation 113(1) (effect of acceptance of transfer value payment) had been multiplied by 49/160.

[F3 (4A) For the purposes of paragraph (4), if the member—

(a) died in the period beginning with 1st April and ending with 5th April in the Scheme year following the Scheme year in which the member ceased to be an active member; or

(b) ceased to be an active member in the period beginning with 1st April and ending 5th April in a Scheme year and subsequently died within that same period,

the pension is deemed to include the revaluation adjustment that would have been due at the next revaluation date.]

(5) If the member ceased to be an active member, became a pensioner member and died all within the same Scheme year, the balance in the survivor member's pension account at the end of the Scheme year in which the survivor member's pension account was opened is adjusted [F4 on 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, [F5 and takes effect from the start of the Scheme year following the Scheme year in which the member became a pensioner member,] in accordance with actuarial guidance issued by the Department.

[F6 (6) Where—

(a) paragraph (5) applies, the balance calculated under paragraph (3) is the opening balance of the survivor member’s pension account for the following Scheme year, and the revaluation adjustment is applied to the balance in accordance with paragraph (5);

(b) paragraph (5) does not apply, the balance under paragraph (3) is the opening balance of the survivor member’s pension account for the following Scheme year,

and, thereafter, the balance in the survivor member’s pension 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 1971 Act applied.

(6A) 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.]

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

[F7 (8) The pension that the member would have been entitled to, for the purpose of calculating the amount of pension payable under paragraph (3), is not to include any final guarantee amount under regulation 4B (statutory underpin; retirement, redundancy, ill-health) or 4C (statutory underpin: flexible retirement) of the Transitional Regulations.]

Textual Amendments

F1 Word in reg. 52(1) omitted (with effect in accordance with reg. 1(2)(c) of the amending Rule) by virtue of The Local Government Pension Scheme (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2019 (S.R. 2019/206), regs. 1(1), 26

F2 Words in reg. 52(4)(a) inserted (18.11.2019) by The Local Government Pension Scheme (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2019 (S.R. 2019/206), regs. 1(1), 71 and also inserted (with effect in accordance with reg. 1(2)(a) of the amending Rule) by The Local Government Pension Scheme (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2020 (S.R. 2020/77), regs. 1(1), 3

F3 Reg. 52(4A) inserted (with effect in accordance with reg. 1(2) of the amending Rule) by The Local Government Pension Scheme (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2023 (S.R. 2023/81), regs. 1(1), 7(2)(a)

F4 Words in reg. 52(5) substituted (with effect in accordance with reg. 1(2) of the amending Rule) by The Local Government Pension Scheme (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2023 (S.R. 2023/81), regs. 1(1), 7(2)(b)(i)

F5 Words in reg. 52(5) inserted (with effect in accordance with reg. 1(2) of the amending Rule) by The Local Government Pension Scheme (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2023 (S.R. 2023/81), regs. 1(1), 7(2)(b)(ii)

F6 Reg. 52(6)(6A) substituted for reg. 52(6) (with effect in accordance with reg. 1(2) of the amending Rule) by The Local Government Pension Scheme (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2023 (S.R. 2023/81), regs. 1(1), 7(2)(c)

F7 Reg. 52(8) inserted (1.10.2023) by The Local Government Pension Scheme (Amendment No. 2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2023 (S.R. 2023/149), regs. 1(1), 3(9)