For a Civil Service pension on death, the member's section (classic to alpha) and stage decide the lump sum and any partner's or children's pension.
What happens to a Civil Service pension when the member dies?
A Civil Service pension does not simply stop when a member dies. Depending on the section and circumstances, it may pay a one-off lump sum, a pension to a husband, wife, civil partner or partner, and pensions to children. If you are reading this after a loss, we are very sorry. An FCA-authorised adviser can run through the figures with you on a call-back that costs nothing, which you ask for in this page's form.
The Civil Service Pension Scheme's bereavement hub puts it plainly: “What is payable depends on the pension scheme, the member's circumstances and the scheme rules.” Two things decide which rules apply: the section the member belonged to, and their stage (still working, left with a preserved pension, or retired). Each section's rules below come from its own scheme guide: classic, classic plus, premium, nuvos and alpha (sections 06A, 06B, 06C and 06D).
A member who was in classic, classic plus, premium or nuvos before 1 April 2015 and then moved into alpha can have two sets of rules. The alpha guide says their dependants get a pension based on the alpha pension plus any pension due from the older scheme. For how each section builds a pension, see how much Civil Service pension you get.
The death in service lump sum, scheme by scheme
When a member dies while still working, the lump sum is a multiple of pay in classic, classic plus and premium, and the greater of two sums in nuvos and alpha.
Classic
Classic's guide says: “If you die while still working for an employer who participates in the CSP arrangements, the death benefit lump sum is normally equal to two years’ pensionable earnings.” It may be reduced for a re-employed pensioner or someone who had taken partial retirement. For a member who left with a preserved pension and had not reached 60, the lump sum equals the preserved lump sum that would have been paid had they taken their pension.
Classic plus
Classic plus may pay three times the member's pay to the people the member named, and it is lower if the member was already receiving a Civil Service pension.
Premium
Premium may pay three times final pensionable earnings to the person, people or organisation nominated, or to the personal representative; it is lower if the member was already receiving a Civil Service pension.
Nuvos
Nuvos pays the greater of twice final pay, less lump sums already paid from any Civil Service section, and five times the pension built up (with any added pension bought), less pension, but not lump sums, already paid from nuvos. If a member left and died before drawing a pension, there will usually be a payment of five times the preserved pension, increased with the cost of living.
Alpha
Alpha works the lump sum out two ways and pays the higher: two times final pay, less lump sums already paid or due from Civil Service pension arrangements, or five times the pension built up, less pension already paid. For a deferred member it is five times the annual pension at the date of death, adjusted for prices.
Where someone moved into alpha from an older section, the lump sum has an older-scheme part too; for banked classic plus or premium service, alpha's guide says the multiple of pay depends on the date of death. Joining the two parts into one figure is a job for the call-back that the enquiry form here sets up, at no charge.
Is there a 5-year guarantee on a Civil Service pension?
What people call the 5-year guarantee appears in the scheme guides as a lump sum that may be paid when a retired member dies within five years of starting their pension.
- Classic: it may pay the difference, if any, between five times the annual pension on the date of death and the pension and lump sum already received. An additional lump sum taken on retiring reduces it, or cancels it.
- Classic plus: it may pay five years' pension on service before 1 October 2002 (less any lump sum already paid for it), plus five years' pension on service from that date (less pension already received). Taking the maximum lump sum on retiring can reduce or cancel it.
- Premium: the pension, including added pension, that would have been payable for the rest of the five years at the rate on the date of death. “If you die more than five years after you start getting your pension, we do not pay a lump sum.”
- Nuvos: the balance of five years' pension, including added pension bought, to the people named.
- Alpha: five times the annual pension, including increases, less pension already received and less any lump sum taken at retirement, so in some cases no lump sum is payable.
Nuvos says it cannot pay this lump sum, because of tax rules, if the member is over 75; any balance goes yearly in arrears to the nominee as a pension until the five years are up. Premium says it may pay a balance that way for a member over 75.
Spouse, civil partner and partner pensions
Every section can pay a continuing pension to a surviving husband, wife or civil partner; most can pay a partner, on differing conditions.
Classic
Classic starts with a short-term increase for the first 91 days after a death in service or in retirement, if the widow, widower or civil partner has applied for a survivor's pension. A continuing pension follows; for members who joined after 1 June 1972 (men) or 1 July 1987 (women) the widow's or widower's pension is “normally one half of your pension, though it may be less if you were married after leaving the Civil Service.” A surviving civil partner's is based on service from 6 April 1988 only. If a survivor remarries or lives with someone as a couple, the pension will stop or reduce, with limited grounds for restoring it. The classic guide describes pensions for a widow, widower or surviving civil partner but does not describe one for an unmarried partner, so check with the scheme before assuming either way. A partner in that position can raise it, free, with an FCA-authorised adviser after sending the enquiry form.
Classic plus
Classic plus works in two parts: half of the pension based on service before 1 October 2002, plus 3/8 of the pension based on service from that date. The survivor needs at least two years of the member's scheme membership. For a death in service the scheme may add up to 10 extra years. If the survivor remarries or lives with someone as a partner, the pre-October 2002 part stops, though it may be restored if the new relationship ends. An unmarried partner may be paid if neither is married to, or in a civil partnership with, anyone else, calculated the same way but based only on service from 1 October 2002.
Premium
Premium bases the pension on 37.5% of the member's pension. After a death in service, a survivor's pension needs at least two years' qualifying service, and reckonable service is enhanced by up to ten years first. After retirement it is the pension before any was given up for a lump sum, with cost-of-living increases. A spouse, civil partner or other adult dependant may be paid, and so may an unmarried partner, depending on the circumstances, if neither is married to or in a civil partnership with anyone else.
Nuvos
Nuvos usually pays 37.5% of the member's pension, including added and transferred-in pension, for a death in service after at least 12 months as an active member, or after leaving with a preserved pension or one in payment. A spouse or civil partner more than 12 years younger gets a reduced pension. For a death in service the pension is enhanced first, using 10 years or the years until 65, whichever is less. A partner may be paid if neither is married to or in a civil partnership with anyone else, but the partner must also give evidence of financial dependence on the member, or financial interdependence, at the time of death.
Alpha
Alpha normally pays an adult dependant 37.5% of the member's enhanced pension for a death in service, and 37.5% of the pension being received after retirement (before any was given up for a lump sum). Partial retirement removes the enhancement, and a spouse, civil partner or partner more than 12 years younger gets a reduced pension. Alpha defines a partner as someone living with the member in a long-term relationship and financially interdependent with them. An adult dependant's pension is paid for life and is treated as earned income, so can be taxed.
Children's pensions
Children can receive their own pension. In classic plus, premium, nuvos and alpha the percentage depends on whether an adult dependant's pension is also being paid; classic works differently.
| Scheme | Adult dependant's pension paid | None paid | Age limits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Classic plus | 30% of the member's pension entitlement; with a partner's (not a spouse's) pension, 30% on service from 1 October 2002 plus 50% on earlier service | 50% | Under 18, or up to 23 in full-time education |
| Premium | 30% | 50% | Up to 18, or up to 23 in full-time education |
| Nuvos | 30% | 50% | To 18, or potentially 23 in full-time education or vocational training |
| Alpha | 30% for each child | 50% for each child | Under 18, or under 23 in full-time education or vocational training |
With more than two eligible children, each section reduces the children's pensions to equal shares; alpha caps the total at 60%, or 100% where no adult pension is paid. Classic pays “1/4 of your pension for each child in the care of your widow, widower or surviving civil partner”, or “1/3 of your pension for each child in the care of another person.” It usually pays no more than half the pension in total, though more where no widow's, widower's or civil partner's pension is payable or more than one child is in another person's care. It pays up to age 17, or under 23 in full-time education or vocational training, and the children must have been conceived or born before the member's Civil Service employment ended.
Each guide describes a possible pension for life for a child with a lasting impairment or serious disability, on its own conditions; premium's, for example, needs the Scheme Medical Adviser's view that the child is unlikely ever to be able to work. Alpha says children who are not biological or legally adopted need evidence of financial dependence, such as a guardianship order.
Nomination forms: who gets the lump sum?
The lump sum goes to the person, people or organisation the member nominated; with no nomination it goes to the personal representative or estate. Members name or change a nominee in the Pension Portal or on a death benefit nomination form; the Portal and Annual Benefit Statement show who it is. The bereavement hub also describes a Notification of Beneficiary form, with the warning “These forms help inform decisions but are not usually legally binding.” Alpha adds that its lump sum is paid at the Scheme Manager's discretion: likely to go to the nominees, but in some circumstances it may not.
In classic, classic plus, premium and nuvos, a nomination of a husband, wife or civil partner stops being valid on divorce or dissolution, but not on separation; nuvos spells out that it stays valid for a couple legally separated but not divorced. Alpha's examples of an invalid nomination include a nominated spouse or civil partner the member had legally separated from, or a nominee who died first. In the other four, a nominated partner you were not married to stays valid after a separation unless you change it. Who to name, alongside a will and other pensions, can be talked over on a free call-back once your number is in the form here.
The classic, classic plus and premium guides add that a court can order all or part of the lump sum to an ex-spouse, with any balance paid to the nominee or personal representative. Our pages on expression of wish forms, nominees and beneficiaries and what happens with no beneficiary cover the general picture.
Tax and inheritance tax on Civil Service death benefits
The scheme says tax depends on individual circumstances and that it will explain any that applies. On inheritance tax, classic says: “In most circumstances, HMRC regulations do not take account of the death benefit lump sum when assessing liability for inheritance tax.” Alpha says a lump sum paid to nominees at the Scheme Manager's discretion “does not form part of your estate for inheritance tax purposes”, but one paid to the estate can become liable for inheritance tax, depending on the estate's total value. The wider rules are in pensions and inheritance tax, whether a widow's pension is taxable, final salary pensions on death and pension death benefits generally.
Telling the scheme about a death
The scheme's bereavement hub asks families to get in touch when they feel able. You do not need a death certificate first, and can notify the scheme before probate has been granted. It may later ask for documents such as a death certificate or Tell Us Once confirmation, marriage, civil partnership or birth certificates, bank details and, where relevant, probate or proof of financial dependency. Simple cases should take approximately 4 to 8 weeks, and complex ones may take longer.
The scheme lists Cruse Bereavement Support (England, Wales and Northern Ireland), Citizens Advice and your GP among those who may help, and asks you to tell it if you are struggling with the paperwork. If you are not sure which pensions the person had, tracing a deceased person's pensions may help.
What members and families also ask
Who gets my Civil Service pension when I die?
Your own pension stops, but depending on your section and whether you were working, had left with a preserved pension or had retired, a nominee usually receives any lump sum and eligible dependants may receive pensions.
Can an unmarried partner get a Civil Service pension?
Classic plus, premium, nuvos and alpha describe one, each on its own conditions (see the partner pensions above); the classic guide does not, so ask the scheme what applies.
Is any money refunded if there are no dependants?
Nuvos says a refund of contributions is only available if you leave with less than two years' service, and that no refund is payable if you leave service or die with an entitlement to pension. For other sections, the scheme can say what applies.
Your next step
The scheme's bereavement team can say what is payable, and MoneyHelper offers free, impartial information. Pension Wise is narrower: GOV.UK lists ‘final salary’ and ‘career average’ pensions among those it does not cover. To talk through the lump sum, dependants' pensions and the wider estate in one conversation, request the free call-back through this page's form.