The Local Government Pension Scheme Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2014

Survivor benefits: partners of active members N.I.

41.—(1) If an active member 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 active 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 amounts in sub-paragraphs (a) and (b)—

(a) the pension that the member would have been entitled to draw [F2 excluding any final guarantee amount under regulation 4B (statutory underpin; retirement, redundancy, ill-health) or 4C (statutory underpin: flexible retirement) of the Transitional Regulations] if—

(i) the member had been entitled to draw a pension on the date of the member's death,

(ii) the pension the member would have been able to draw on that date had not been subject to any restriction on the age at which it could be drawn, or actuarial adjustment either relating to the age at which it was drawn or following a Scheme Pays Election;

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

(iv) the member's earned pension had accrued at a rate of 1/160th of pensionable pay; F3 ...

(v) the amount of earned pension credited under regulation 113(1) (effect of acceptance of transfer value payment) had been multiplied by 49/160; [F4 and]

[F5 (vi) the amount of earned pension credited under regulation 21(3) (councillors’ pensions) of the Transitional Regulations had been multiplied by 49/160th;]

[F6 (aa) for the purposes of sub-paragraph (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;]

(b) a sum equivalent to 1/160th of the member's annual assumed pensionable pay calculated in accordance with regulation 23(4) (assumed pensionable pay) as at the date of the member's death, for each year or fraction of a year between the date of the member's death and the member's normal pension age [F7 , but where, in the opinion of an IRMP the member was, at the date of death, wholly or temporarily in part time service or working at a lower grade as a result of the condition that caused or contributed to the member’s death, no account shall be taken of any reduction in pensionable pay due to such reduction in service as is attributable to that condition.]

(5) 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 [F8 on the revaluation date in] the following Scheme year by the revaluation adjustment applicable to the Scheme year in which the survivor member's pension account was opened, [F9 and 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 Department.

[F10 (6) The balance calculated under paragraph (3) is the opening balance of the survivor member’s pension account for the following Scheme year and, having applied the revaluation adjustment to the balance in accordance with paragraph (5), thereafter, the balance in that 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).

Textual Amendments

F1 Word in reg. 41(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), 23

F2 Words in reg. 41(4)(a) 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(4)

F3 Word in reg. 41(4)(a)(iv) deleted (with effect in accordance with reg. 1(2) of the amending Rule) by The Local Government Pension Scheme (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016 (S.R. 2016/128), regs. 1(1), 15(a)

F4 Word in reg. 41(4)(a)(v) inserted (with effect in accordance with reg. 1(2) of the amending Rule) by The Local Government Pension Scheme (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016 (S.R. 2016/128), regs. 1(1), 15(b)

F5 Reg. 41(4)(a)(vi) inserted (with effect in accordance with reg. 1(2) of the amending Rule) by The Local Government Pension Scheme (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016 (S.R. 2016/128), regs. 1(1), 15(c)

F6 Reg. 41(4)(aa) 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), 4(1)(a)

F7 Words in reg. 41(4)(b) inserted (with effect in accordance with reg. 1(2) of the amending Rule) by The Local Government Pension Scheme (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016 (S.R. 2016/128), regs. 1(1), 15(d)

F8 Words in reg. 41(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), 4(1)(b)(i)

F9 Words in reg. 41(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), 4(1)(b)(ii)

F10 Reg. 41(6)(6A) substituted for reg. 41(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), 4(1)(c)