Survivor benefits: partners of pensioner members
45.—(1) If a pensioner member (other than a pensioner member where the pension the member was in receipt of was derived from a pension credit) dies leaving a surviving spouse, civil partner or cohabiting partner, that person is entitled to a pension which shall come into payment on the day following the member’s death.
(2) The appropriate administering authority shall close the pensioner member’s pension account and shall open a survivor member’s pension account from the day following the member’s death.
(3) The opening balance of the survivor member’s pension account is the amount of pension payable to the survivor calculated in accordance with paragraph (4).
(4) The amount of a pension payable under paragraph (3) is calculated by adding together the pension that the member would have been entitled to draw on the date of the member’s death if—
(a)the member’s earned pension (including any amount added under regulations 37(1)(a) or 37(2)(a) (enhancement of member’s Tier 1 and Tier 2 benefits)) had accrued at a rate of 1/160th of pensionable pay;
(b)the pension had not been subject to any actuarial adjustment relating either to the age at which it was drawn or following a Scheme pays election;
(c)there had been no commutation under regulation 32 (election for lump sum instead of pension);
(d)the pension excluded any additional pension purchased under regulation 16 (additional pension contributions) and any additional pension awarded under regulation 30 (award of additional pension);
(e)the pension included 49/160 of any additional pension purchased under regulation 17(6)(b)(i) (additional voluntary contributions) which included provision for a survivor’s pension;
(f)the amount of any earned pension credited under regulation 96(1) (effect of acceptance of transfer value) had been multiplied by 49/160; and
(g)the amount of any pension credited under regulation 4(4) (underpin) of the Transitional Provisions and Savings Regulations 2014 had been multiplied by 60/160.
(5) Additional pension purchased under regulation 16 is not excluded for the purposes of paragraph (4)(d) where the member has elected to purchase that additional pension to cover the amount of pension which would otherwise have accrued but for—
(a)an absence from work with no pensionable pay in consequence of a trade dispute; or
(b)an absence from work with permission with no pensionable pay, otherwise than because of—
(i)illness or injury;
(ii)child related leave; or
(iii)reserve forces special leave.
(6) If the member ceased to be an active member, became a pensioner member and died all within the same Scheme year, the balance in the survivor member’s pension account at the end of the Scheme year in which the survivor member’s account was opened is adjusted at the beginning of the following Scheme year by the revaluation adjustment applicable to the Scheme year in which the survivor member’s account was opened, in accordance with guidance issued by the Scottish Ministers.
(7) Where—
(a)paragraph (6) applies, the revalued balance calculated under paragraph (6) is the opening balance of the survivor member’s pension account for the following Scheme year;
(b)paragraph (6) does not apply, the balance under paragraph (3) is the opening balance of the survivor member’s pension account for the following Scheme year,
and, thereafter, the balance in the account is adjusted each year by the index rate adjustment from the date that an increase would apply if that balance were a pension in payment to which the Pensions (Increase) Act 1971(1) applied.
(8) If there is more than one surviving spouse, they become jointly entitled in equal shares under paragraph (1).