Benefits for Dependants

What benefits are paid to my Dependants if I die?

These benefits depend on whether you’re in active service, retirement, or have left the Plan at the date of your death and are based on your Reckonable Service. Generally, one or more of the following benefits may become payable on your death:

1. A Lump Sum (payable at the discretion of the Trustee).
2. A Spouse’s pension (noting the definition ‘Spouse’ covers both spouse and Civil Partnership).
3. A Children’s pension.

Can I name someone to receive any Lump Sum when I die?

You can name the person or people you’d like to receive any Lump Sum payment due on your death by completing and returning an Expression of Wish Form. You should review your Expression of Wish Form regularly and keep this up to date. The Expression of Wish Form can be accessed and updated on EQ’s Member Self Service and Aegon’s TargetPlan Portal which can be accessed at www.cnpp.org.uk/login, or a printable form can be downloaded and returned via post.

• Expression of Wish Form to download and complete
• Login to the TargetPlan Portal to update your Expression of Wish

Payment of the Lump Sum to your nominee(s) will be subject to the discretion of the Trustee and your Expression of Wish Form will be considered but the Trustee does not have to follow your wishes. Under current tax rules, the Lump Sum can usually be paid tax free.

Divorce or dissolution of a Civil Partnership

If you get divorced or dissolve your Civil Partnership your benefits under the Plan may become subject to a court order. This would require the Trustee to allocate a specified part of your retirement benefits and death benefits under the Plan to your ex-Spouse or your ex-Civil Partner.

If a court order applies to your Plan benefits you will be given details of the reduction to apply to your benefits. On divorce or dissolution where a court order applies you should inform the Trustee.

Lump Sum

What happens if I die in service?

We will pay a Lump Sum of 2x your Pensionable Final Earnings (minus an amount to pay for certain enhancements applicable to your Spouse’s pension, as described below) or, if greater, the sum available if you’d retired due to ill-health immediately before your death (see Retiring). If no regular pensions are payable to your Spouse or dependants an amount will be added equal to any family benefit contributions you paid before April 2024.

What happens if I die after I leave the Plan?

If you leave the Plan and then die before drawing your pension, the Lump Sum death benefit is equal to 3x the level of your CARE pension as though it would be received immediately before you died and had exchanged it for a Lump Sum (see Pension and Lump Sum Benefits) plus any retirement Lump Sum you would have received for your Final Salary benefits.

What happens if I die in retirement?

If you die after retirement, you receive a minimum benefit guarantee of a Lump Sum of five times the amount of your annual pension at death, less the pension and Lump Sum payments you have already received at the date of your death.

Spouse’s pension

Does my Spouse get a pension?

A pension benefit is payable to your Spouse when you die for the rest of their life (or until re-marriage – see following section). It will be part calculated on a CARE basis and part on Final Salary basis.

The part calculated on a CARE basis will be 37.5% of the CARE pension you were receiving at the date of your death or, if you had not yet started to receive your pension, would have received if you retired immediately before your death. If you die when still in employment and building up CARE benefits, your CARE pension used for this calculation will be enhanced as if you had retired on Medical Grounds because you are too ill to work (see Retiring).

The part calculated on a Final Salary basis will be 1/140 of your Pensionable Final Earnings per year of Final Salary Reckonable Service at the date of your death, increased by RPI from the date you stopped building up benefits in the Plan to your death.

The pension for the first 91 days (or 182 days if a child’s pension is payable for a child in the care of your Spouse) will be increased to the annual rate of your Pensionable Final Earnings if you die in service or to the rate of your own pension if you were receiving your pension.

Note there are specific rules on the death of an eligible CPS Member who elected whilst being a member of the CPS that their Spouse should receive only the GMP. If you think that you have a GMP and have questions in relation to your GMP please contact the Plan administrator.

If you receive an ill-health service enhancement and you are married or have nominated an Adult Dependant to receive benefits on your death, your automatic Lump Sum payable on Final Salary benefits (if applicable) will have a deduction applied equal to the period of Reckonable Service that has been enhanced (see Retiring) x 3/160 and multiplied by Pensionable Final Earnings.

The following worked example shows how the ill-health enhancement works on death in practice:

 

 

Will my Spouse’s pension carry on if they remarry?

If your Spouse gets married again or lives with someone as husband and wife or as a same sex partner (cohabitation), the pension will be suspended until that marriage/civil partnership or cohabitation comes to an end (except for certain members who joined the CPS prior to 31 May 1978). The pension may be continued at the Trustee’s discretion during the second marriage/civil partnership (or cohabitation).

Can a pension be paid to an Adult Dependant?

If you leave an Adult Dependant but no Spouse, the Trustee may pay the pension to your Adult Dependant.

If you leave both an Adult Dependant and a Spouse, the Trustee has discretion to pay the pension based on your CARE Pensionable Service to either but must pay the Final Salary pension to your Spouse.

Can I increase the pension that my Spouse would receive?

You can choose to exchange part of your pension for additional benefits for your spouse at retirement. The amount your spouse would receive is determined by the Trustee on advice of the Plan’s actuary and you cannot exchange more than a third of your pension (and cannot mean that the pension surrendered plus any pension contingently payable on your death is more than your annual pension after the surrender). If you’re interested in this, please contact the Plan Administrator on 0333 207 6523 or email CombinedNuclearPensionPlan@equiniti.com

Children’s pension

Will my children get a pension?

A pension will be paid to children who are dependant on you and who are not married/in a civil partnership when you die, up to the age of 17 (or up to 23 if they are in full-time education or vocational training).

This pension is paid immediately after your death, or, where an initial Spouse’s pension is being paid at a higher rate, once payment of that short-term increase to the Spouse’s pension ceases.

How much pension will my children receive?

Children’s pensions will be part calculated on a CARE basis and part on a Final Salary basis and the total amount payable will depend on the number of your children.

The children’s pension is based on proportion of your pension entitlement (ignoring any amount arising from the purchase of Added Years or from receipt of a transfer) calculated differently if you die:

1. In active service: The child’s pension is calculated as though your pension had been being put into payment immediately before your death.
2. Having left the Plan: The child’s pension is based on your deferred pension payable at date of death (revalued to the date of your death).
3. Whilst receiving a pension: The child’s pension is based on the actual pension you were receiving at date of death.

Note that if you die whilst receiving your pension and your Reckonable Service is less than 10 years, increased Reckonable Service (and therefore an increased pension) will apply when calculating your children’s pension by whichever of the following provides the lower Reckonable Service:

1. So that your Reckonable Service is 10 years (subject to the deduction of your CPS Reckonable service); or
2. The Reckonable Service you would have completed if you had remained in service until five years after Pension Age.

For the pensions calculated based on CARE benefits, the proportion of your pension that will be payable is 30% for each child in the care of a Spouse/Adult Dependant who is receiving a Spouse’s pension and 50% for any others. If you have more than one child, the children’s pensions payable are subject to an overall maximum proportion of 60% if a Spouse’s pension is in payment to a Spouse or Adult Dependant and 100% if not.

In addition, if you have built up Final Salary benefits, the proportion of your Final Salary pension that will be payable is 25% for each child in the case of a Spouse and 33% for any other. If you have more than one child, the children’s pensions payable are subject to the following overall maximum proportions:

• 50% if all children are in the care of your Spouse or if a Spouse’s pension is being paid.
• 58.34% if one child is in the care of someone other than your Spouse and no Spouse’s pension is being paid.
• 66.67% if two or more of your children are in the care of someone other than your Spouse and no Spouse’s pension is being paid.

Where the limits above apply, the pension will be split between each child by the Trustee and the maximum pension will be adjusted when any child starts or stops being eligible (e.g. because they are older than age 18 and are not or are no longer in full time education or vocational training).

What if I have a Permanently Incapacitated Child?

If you have a Permanently Incapacitated Child you can choose to pay additional contributions for an additional child’s pension that will be payable on your death until the child ceases to be permanently incapacitated or marries. If you’re interested in this, please contact the Plan Administrator on 0333 207 6523 or email CombinedNuclearPensionPlan@equiniti.com

What if I die with only a small amount of built up benefits?

If you die and have only built up a small amount of benefits a pension payable on your death may be paid as a Trivial Commutation Lump Sum Death Benefit on death. The government sets strict rules about who can trivially commute their pension and it is generally only available for small pension pots. The amount of Trivial Commutation Lump Sum Death Benefit on death your dependants would receive is determined by the Trustee on advice of the Plan’s actuary.