This page explains what death benefits are paid if you die while you are an active member of the alpha pension scheme, and who can receive them. It also explains what happens if you have service in both alpha and an earlier Civil Service pension scheme.
What benefits are paid if you die in service
If you die while you are still an active member of alpha, the scheme may pay:
a lump sum, paid at the discretion of the Scheme Manager to your nominee(s)
pensions for your eligible dependants
Who receives the lump sum?
The Scheme Manager will normally pay the lump sum to the person, people, or organisation you have nominated.
Although you can nominate who you would like to receive the lump sum, the final decision resets with the Scheme Manager.
How the lump sum is calculated
The scheme works out the lump sum in two ways and pays the higher amount.
Calculation 1: based on your pay
Calculation 2: based on your pension
Five times the pension you have built up,
minus any pension payments already made from Civil Service pension arrangements
What ‘final pay’ means
Final pay is usually your pensionable pay from the last 12 months ending on your last day of pensionable service.
If it is higher, the scheme can instead use your pensionable earnings from any of the last 10 full scheme years. Earnings from earlier years are increased in line with prices before being used.
Who can receive a dependant’s pension?
The scheme can pay pensions to:
How dependant pensions are worked out
The scheme first works out your pension at your date of death.
If you die in service as an active member, the scheme enhances your pension before calculating dependant pensions.
If you die after taking partial retirement, this enhancement does not apply.
How the pension enhancement is calculated
The scheme calculates the enhancement using your earned alpha pension only.
Your earned alpha pension is the pension built up from your pensionable earnings each year. It does not include:
The calculation follows these steps:
Take your earned alpha pension.
Multiply it by 10, or by the number of years remaining until you would have reached Normal Pensions Age (NPA) if that is lower.
(If you are on a fixed-term contract, the scheme uses the end date of that contract if earlier.)
The result is the enhancement added to your pension before dependant benefits are worked out.
How much an adult dependant receives
An adult dependant normally receives 37.5% of your enhanced pension.
If you were buying added pension with dependant benefits, your dependant will also receive 37.5% of the added pension you would have received.
When the pension may be reduced
If your spouse, civil partner, or partner is more than 12 years younger than you, the scheme will reduce the pension they receive.
How much a child receives
Child pensions depend on:
how many eligible children there are, and
whether the scheme is also paying and adult dependant's pension
If there is an adult dependant's pension payable each child receives 30% of your pension.
If there is more than two children, the total paid is 60%, split equally between eligible children.
If there is no adult dependant's pension each child receives 50% of your pension.
If there is more than two children the total paid is 100%, split equally between eligible children.
If you have service in alpha and the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme (PCSPS)
This section applies if you were a member of one of the following schemes before 1 April 2015 and later moved into alpha:
classic
classic plus
premium
nuvos
Your eligible dependants may receive a dependant pension based on:
How the lump sum is calculated for PCSPS service
The scheme pays the higher of the following two amounts:
a multiple of the final pay,
minus any lump sum payments already paid or due from Civil Service pension arrangements
five times the pension you have built up,
minus any payments already made from Civil Service pension arrangements
If you have banked service in classic or banked benefits in nuvos, the scheme calculates the lump sum in the normal way.
If you have banked service in classic plus, premium, the multiple of pay depends on the date you die.
About this information
This guides explains how the rules work in practice. It does not cover every situation.
The scheme rules are the legal basis and override this guide.
You can find the PCSPS scheme rules on the Civil Service Pensions website.
Tax limits and allowances may change in the future.
