If you die, your widow, widower, civil partner or eligible cohabiting partner will receive a pension equal to:
- 1/160th of your final pay times the period of your membership in the Scheme up to 31 March 2015 upon which your pension is based, plus
- your accrued pension for membership in the Scheme after 31 March 2015 recalculated as if it had built up at a rate of 1/160th, plus
- 1/160th of your assumed pensionable pay for each year of membership that you would have built up from your date of death to your normal pension age, plus
- 49/160th of the amount of any pension credited to your pension account following a transfer in.
Criteria for payment of a cohabiting partner’s pension
The first criterion must apply at the time of death:
- You must be free to marry your cohabiting partner. So, if you are still married or in a civil partnership with someone else, your partner would not be eligible for a survivor’s pension under the regulations.
and the following three criteria must apply for a period of at least two years immediately prior to your death:
- you must have lived together as if married or in a civil partnership, and
- neither you nor your cohabiting partner have been living with someone else as if you were married or civil partners, and
- your partner must be able to prove that he or she was financially dependent on you or that you were financially interdependent on each other. Financially interdependent means that you rely on your joint income to support your standard of living – even if you do not contribute equally.
The pension payable to an eligible cohabiting partner is only based on the period of membership after 5 April 1988.