What if I die?

If you die while still working in the Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS), the lump-sum death benefit is normally equal to two years' pensionable pay. If you are part time, it is normally equal to two years' actual part-time pensionable earnings. We will pay this benefit to the person you nominated no matter how long you have been working for us. If you have not nominated anyone, or your nomination is invalid, we will pay it to your personal representative. This benefit will be reduced if you still have to make contributions for benefits for your spouse or civil partner and incapacitated children.

If you die after retiring, a lump-sum death benefit may be payable. We work it out as the difference (if any) between five times your annual pension on the date you died and the total pension and lump-sum payments you have already received. We will pay it to the person you nominated or your personal representative.

We will pay a lump sum of three times your pay to the person or people you have nominated.

If you die within five years of starting to draw your pension, we will pay the person or people you have named a lump sum representing the balance of five years' pension. If you leave the scheme and then die before drawing your pension, we will usually pay the person or people a lump sum of:

We will pay a sum of three times your pay to the person (or people) you have named. This lump sum will normally be tax-free. If you want to increase this lump sum up to four times your pay, you can do this by paying Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs) to Equitable Life, one of our AVC providers. Contact us for more details.

If you die within five years of starting to draw your pension, we will pay the person or people you have named a lump sum representing the balance of five years' pension. If you leave the scheme and then die before drawing your pension, we will usually pay the person or people a lump sum of:

If you die before you draw your pension, your pension provider will pay the value of your pension pot to the person you have named on the pension application form. This value will be the contributions that you and your employer have made, plus investment returns over the years.

If you die before you leave the NICS, we will pay a lump sum of three times your pensionable earnings to the person you named on your pension choices form.

When you buy your pension, you decide if you want to provide a dependant with a pension after your death.

If you would like information on what benefits your spouse/civil partner or partner would be entitled to or more detailed information on death benefits please read the following booklets listed below.

All booklets and leaflets can be found in the resources section.

If you do not understand any of the above or would like to speak to someone concerning death benefits please contact the Member Administration Section

You can find their number in the contact us section.

The leaflets and booklets displayed above are PDF documents. In order to view them you will need Adobe PDF reader. If it isn't already installed on your computer you can download it from here.