Death

If you need to tell us someone has died

• call us on 01274 434999 or
• email pensions@wypf.org.uk 

It will help us find the right record if you have the person's full name, their pension 'member number' or their National Insurance number, and their most recent contact details including their address.  

What do we need to know when you contact us?

To make it as easy as possible we'll only need three things from you initially:

1. next of kin details
2. executor or other appropriate person's contact information (a name, address and phone number)
3. the date the person died

We'll then write to you or the appropriate person asking for more detailed information and fully explain what happens next. 

There are four things you can do now to make sure your pension records are fully up to date that could make dealing with your estate easier for those you leave behind. 

1. Complete a death grant nomination form
   Download the form or log in and do it online
2. Tell us if you have an eligible co-habiting partner
   Download a form
3. Make sure you have a current will.
4. Make a note of your pension member number in your records or somewhere obvious.
   Find this on your annual statement, online and on pension payslips if you're a pensioner. 

After your death, your husband, wife or civil partner will be due a pension*, payable for the rest of their life.

This pension increases each April in line with the Consumer Prices Index just like your pension does.

The pension paid to your husband, wife or civil partner will be approximately one-third to a half of what you were getting.  

*If you are a woman and your last day at work was before 6 April 1988 there may not be a spouse’s or civil partner’s pension payable in the event of your death.

Even if you and your partner aren't married or in a civil partnership they could still be eligible for a partner's pension. 

You don't need to nominate your cohabiting partner for a pension but it can make it easier for us and your partner if you have completed a nomination form. So we urge you to do this.

Are my partner and I eligible?

You’ll be eligible if all the following were true for a continuous two-year period on the date of your death, and you were a contributing member of the scheme on or after 1 April 2008.

• You have been able to marry or form a civil partnership with your partner
• You have lived together as if you were husband and wife or civil partners
• Neither of you have been living with someone else as if you were husband and wife or civil partners, and
• Your financial affairs have been interdependent (or your nominated partner has been financially dependent upon you).

The pension paid to them will be approximately one-third to one half of what you were getting.

After your death, a pension can be paid to your dependent children.

In the LGPS a dependent child is one who is

• under age 18, or
• over age 18 but under age 23 and in full-time education or vocational training, and have been since they were 18, or
• over age 18 and physically or mentally impaired since before age 18. (By physically or mentally impaired we mean that an Independent Registered Medical Practitioner believes that due to the child's physical or mental impairment there is no possibility of them being able to engage in gainful employment).

Children’s pensions will increase each April in line with the Consumer Prices Index.

The pension paid to them will be approximately a quarter of what you were getting if you have one dependent child, or if there are two or more children about half of your pension split equally between them. 

A death grant is a lump sum that can be paid to your estate or to the people and/or organisations you nominate. How this is worked out depends on a number of factors.

We always encourage you to make a nomination to say who you want us to pay your death grant to. Doing it makes it quicker and easier for us to carry out your wishes, but it also removes the payment from your estate for inheritance tax purposes.

You can tell us who you want the money paying to by filling in a death grant expression of wish form or by logging in and updating your details on your pension account.

It's entirely up to you who you nominate. It can be any number of people or organisations, and the share each gets is your choice.

Typical nominations include

• spouses and partners
• children
• close friends
• charities

If you die while you're still employed and paying into the scheme, we'll pay a death grant of at least three times your pay.

However, the death grant paid may be affected if you have any other pensions or deferred pensions in the Local Government Pension Scheme.

If you die while you're a deferred member of the LGPS, we pay a death grant based on either your deferred pension or your deferred lump sum, depending on the date you left the scheme.

• If you left after 31 March 2008 we pay a death grant of five times your deferred annual pension.
• If you left before 1 April 2008, we pay a death grant equal to your  deferred lump sum, including cost of living increases from the date you left to the date of your death.

Note that the death grant payable may be affected if you have active membership elsewhere in the Local Government Pension Scheme. Please contact us for more information about this.

A death grant can still be payable after you have started getting your pension, but what might be payable changes depending on when you stopped paying into the scheme as explained below.

1. You stopped paying into the scheme on or after 1 April 2014

If you die within 10 years of retiring – and you’re under age 75 when you die – your dependents (or who you nominated) will get a lump sum known as a death grant. How much they get depends on what options you took at retirement:

• If you opted to take standard benefits, the death grant is 10x your pension less the amount of pension you already received.
• If you opted to take a bigger lump sum, the death grant is 10x your pension (before commutation) less the extra lump sum you received and less the amount of pension you already received.

2. You stopped paying into the scheme between 1 April 2008 and 31 March 2014

If you die within 10 years of retiring and you are under age 75 at the date of your death, your dependents or the person previously chosen by you will get a lump sum, known as a death grant. This will be equal to 10 years’ pension, less any pension you already received.

3. You stopped paying into the scheme before 1 April 2008

If you die within five years of retiring, and you are under age 75 at the date of your death, your dependents or the person previously chosen by you will get a lump sum, known as a death grant. This will be equal to five years’ pension, less any pension you already received.

Note that death grants may be affected if you have active membership elsewhere in the LGPS.

If you left before 1 April 1998 there is no guarantee of a death grant.