What happens to your teachers' pension when you die?

What happens if you die while in active employment?

Though it’s not nice to think about, it can be reassuring to know that there's a  ‘death grant’ issued if you die during active employment. Your beneficiaries may also be entitled to a long-term pension.

• For career average members, the death grant is worth three times your full-time salary. A long-term pension is also paid and is 37.5% of the pension earned to the date of death plus an enhancement of half your prospective service multiplied by 1/57th or pensionable earnings. 
• For final salary members, the death grant is worth three times your final average salary and 1/160 of the final average salary for each year of your survivor benefits service.

Who gets the grant?

If you die in service*, your surviving spouse or civil partner will automatically be given your death grant. That’s unless you’ve made a death grant nomination to someone else.

You can choose a beneficiary of any age and relationship to you. Bear in mind that you can’t nominate a charity or trust. If there’s no adult beneficiary or death grant nomination at the time of your death, your death grant will be paid to your estate.

After your death, your beneficiary will receive a ‘short term pension’ which is a payment equivalent to three month’s salary. After these three months, they’ll receive a ‘long term pension’, with the value depending on the type of pension membership you held.

*As long as you are receiving at least half of your usual gross salary, you will be classed as being in pensionable service. If you die within 12 months of leaving pensionable service, the in-service death grant still applies. Once 12 months have passed, the out-of-service death grant applies.

What happens if you die while collecting your Teachers’ pension?

If you’ve been collecting your pension for five years or less, the ‘discretionary death grant’ applies. This is worth five times your annual income at the date of your death less any pension payments you’ve already received.

If you die while collecting your Teachers’ Pension, your spouse or civil partner will receive your full pension for three months. After this, they'll be entitled to a reduced-rate income until they die.

Details of family benefits are available on your award paper which you can review online through My Pension Online. 

If you have benefits in both career average and final salary, two calculations will be made, and these will be paid together.

What happens if you die after leaving the scheme, but you’ve not reached pension age?

If you’ve completed two or more years of pensionable service, a death grant can be issued. How much you’ll get depends on which pension arrangement you were in when you left service.

• For career average members, the death grant is either your accrued pension multiplied by 2.25, or your pension contributions plus interest of 3% if there’s no adult pension payable.
• For final salary members, the death grant is either your retirement lump sum at your date of death, or your pension contributions plus interest of 3% if there isn’t an adult pension payable.