Death grant lump sum
Your workplace pension may include a lump sum death grant, which can be transferred to the people you care about in the event of your death. The information on this page explains how it works depending on your scheme.
A death grant is a lump payment made to one or more beneficiaries in the event of your death (a bit like life cover). It provides financial support to the people you leave behind, in the form of a one-off lump sum payment (not to be confused with a survivor’s pension, which provides a regular ongoing income).
Please note
Your pension fund (or police/fire and rescue authority) decides who receives the lump sum, but you can usually name a beneficiary (or beneficiaries) to simplify the process.
What is the value of the lump sum payment?
This depends on several factors, such as whether you are still paying into your pension at the time of your death and when you originally joined the scheme.
Click on your scheme using the tabs below
| Status at death | Death grant lump sum value |
| Active: still paying into your pension scheme | 3x your salary (Assumed Annual Pay) |
| Deferred: stopped paying into the scheme before 31 March 2008 | 3x your deferred annual pension. |
| Deferred: stopped paying into the scheme after 31 March 2008 | 5x your deferred annual pension. |
| Retired: within the last 10 years | 10x your annual pension, minus the amount already paid to you. |
Are there any restrictions on when the benefits will be paid?
- The death grant benefit is payable up until 10 years after you retire (or 5 years if you left the Local Government Pension scheme before 1 April 2008), as long as you are under the age of 75 at the date of your death.
- If you are an active member when you die and also have deferred benefits, only one death grant is paid (the higher of the active death grant or the deferred death grant).
- If you die with multiple deferred benefits and are not an active member, a death grant is paid for each deferred benefit.
- The death grant is tax-free if paid within two years of death.
| Status at death | Death grant lump sum value |
| Active: still paying into your pension scheme | 3x your salary |
| Deferred: stopped paying into the scheme (but not yet retired). | No benefits payable. |
| Retired: within the last 5 years | 5x your annual pension, minus the amount already paid to you (2015 scheme). |
Are there any restrictions on when the benefits will be paid?
- The death grant benefits are only payable if you are an active member of the scheme or within five years of retirement, as long as you are under the age of 75 at the date of your death.
- If you have more than one active account, a lump sum death grant is payable in respect of each of those accounts.
- The death grant is tax-free if paid within two years of death.
| Status at death | Death grant lump sum value |
| Active: still paying into your pension scheme | 3x your pensionable pay (the earnings you pay contributions on) |
| Deferred: no longer paying into the scheme | Although a death grant is only paid for death in service, a gratuity may be paid if you die as the result of an injury sustained when carrying out their duties as a police officer. |
| Retired: within the last 2 years | The difference between the pension payments already paid to you and the total amount that would have been paid in the first two years of retirement. |
Are there any restrictions on when the benefits will be paid?
- The death grant benefits are only payable if you are an active member of the scheme or within two years of retirement.
- If you have linked 1987 or 2006 scheme memberships, we would not pay an additional death grant under those earlier schemes.
- The death grant is tax-free if paid within two years of death.
