The National Health Service Superannuation Scheme (2008 Section) (Scotland) Regulations 2013

Payment of lump sums or pensions on death

3.E.22.—(1) A lump sum payable under regulation 3.E.16 (lump sum benefits on death) or a pension payable under regulation 3.E.21 (pension payable when member dies on or after reaching age 75) must be paid in accordance with this regulation.

(2) The lump sum or pension must be paid to the member’s personal representatives, except so far as it is payable to a different person or body under paragraph (4), (6) or (10).

(3) A member may give notice to the Scottish Ministers—

(a) specifying—

(i) the member’s personal representatives;

(ii) one or more other individuals; or

(iii) one incorporated or unincorporated body,

to whom the lump sum or pension is to be paid; and

(b) where two or more individuals are specified, specifying the percentage of the payment payable to each of them.

(4) If the member—

(a) has given notice under paragraph (3) specifying a person; and

(b) has not revoked that notice,

the lump sum or pension (or, as the case may be, the percentage of it specified in respect of the person) may be paid to the person, unless paragraph (5) or (7) applies.

(5) This paragraph applies if—

(a) the person specified in the notice has died before the payment can be made; or

(b) payment to that person is not, in the opinion of the Scottish Ministers, reasonably practicable.

(6) If the member—

(a) leaves a surviving adult dependant; and

(b) has not given notice under paragraph (3) or has revoked any notice so given,

the lump sum or pension may be paid to that person unless paragraph (7) applies.

(7) This paragraph applies if the person to whom the lump sum or pension (or a specified percentage of the lump sum or pension) would otherwise be payable has been convicted of an offence specified in regulation 3.J.8(2) (forfeiture of rights to benefit) and the Scottish Ministers have directed, as a consequence of that conviction, that the person’s right to a payment in respect of the member’s death is forfeited.

(8) A notice under paragraph (3)—

(a) must be given in writing; and

(b) may be revoked at any time by a further notice in writing.

(9) The Scottish Ministers may pay the lump sum to any person claiming to be the member’s personal representative or otherwise to fall within paragraph (3)(a), without requiring proof that the person is such a person concerned, if the lump sum does not exceed—

(a) £5,000; or

(b) any higher amount specified in an order made under section 6(1) of the Administration of Estates (Small Payments) Act 1965(1) as the amount to be treated as substituted for references to £500 in section 1 of that Act.

(10) The member’s personal representatives may, as part of the distribution of the member’s estate, give irrevocable notice to the Scottish Ministers—

(a) specifying—

(i) one or more individuals; or

(ii) one incorporated or unincorporated body,

to whom the benefit of the pension under regulation 3.E.21 (pension payable when member dies on or after reaching age 75), from the date of receipt of the notice by the Scottish Ministers, is to be assigned; and

(b) where two or more individuals are specified under sub-paragraph (a)(i), specifying the percentage of the pension payable to each of them,

and the pension (or, as the case may be, the percentage of it specified in respect of the person) may be paid to the person or body, unless paragraph (11) applies.

(11) This paragraph applies if—

(a) the person specified in the notice has died before the payment can be made;

(b) payment to that person is not, in the opinion of the Scottish Ministers, reasonably practicable; or

(c) the person to whom the pension (or a specified percentage of the pension) would otherwise be payable has been convicted of an offence specified in regulation 3.J.8(2) (forfeiture of rights to benefits) and the Scottish Ministers have directed, as a consequence of that conviction, that the person’s right to a payment in respect of the member’s death is forfeited.

(12) In the case of a 2008 Section Optant, this regulation is subject to regulation 3.K.19.

(13) In the case of a Waiting Period Joiner, this regulation is subject to regulation 3.L.2.

(1)

1965 c.32. Section 6(1) was amended by the section 24(2) of the Parliamentary Pensions Act 1972 (c.48), section 6(3) of the National Debt Act 1972 (c.65), paragraph 20 of Schedule 9 to the Friendly Societies Act 1974 (c.46), section 36(2) of, and Schedule 4 to, the Judicial Pensions Act 1981 (c.20), section 1(1) of, and Part 1 of Schedule 1 to the Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1986 (c.12), section 6 of, and Schedule 4 of, the Parliamentary and other Pensions Act 1987 (c.45) and paragraph 1 of Schedule 12 to the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 (c.21).