The Firemen’s Pension Scheme Order (Northern Ireland) 2006

Payment of awards

99.—(1) While a pension or allowance is payable—

(a) it is payable in respect of each week; and

(b) the Authority shall discharge its liability in respect of it by making payments in advance at such reasonable intervals as it may determine,

but payment may be delayed to the extent necessary for determining any question as to the liability of the Authority.

(2) Where a person dies after receiving a payment in advance in respect of a pension or allowance, no claim for repayment shall be made on the ground that the payment or any part of it is referable to a period after his death.

(3) Where, after receiving a payment in advance in respect of a pension under Part C, a surviving spouse or civil partner marries or forms a subsequent civil partnership, no claim for repayment shall be made on the ground that the payment of any part of it is referable to a period after the remarriage or, as the case may be, the formation of the new civil partnership.

(4) Subject to paragraphs (5) to (7), pensions under Part C and allowances under Part D (“survivors' benefits”) are payable from the date of the death.

(5) Subject to paragraphs (6) and (7), in the case of a posthumous child any allowance under Part D is payable from the date of his birth.

(6) Where the deceased—

(a) was in receipt of a pension; and

(b) died during a period in respect of which he had already received it,

no survivors' benefits are payable before the end of that period.

(7) Where the deceased received a gratuity, other than an injury gratuity under article 18, survivors' benefits are payable from the first anniversary of his death or such earlier date as the Authority, in the circumstances of the case, thinks fit.

(8) A gratuity shall be paid in one sum as soon as the entitlement to it arises, except that—

(a) payment may be delayed to the extent necessary for determining any question as to the liability of the Authority; and

(b) if the Authority is satisfied that it would be to the advantage of the person entitled, it may pay a gratuity in instalments of such reasonable amounts and over such reasonable period as it thinks fit.

(9) Where a person is entitled under article 20 to the repayment of his aggregate pension contributions, the Authority is not obliged to make payment—

(a) until the expiration of a year from the date of his retirement; or

(b) until he requests payment,

whichever is the earlier.