If I die

Adult Survivor’s pension

A pension of two-thirds of the pension you earned whilst paying the higher contributions towards an Adult Survivor's pension (before any adjustments to your own pension such as taking a tax-free lump sum or any early retirement reduction), will automatically be paid to your husband, wife or civil partner. The normal Scheme increase arrangements apply to Adult Survivor's pensions and they are payable for life.

If you are not married or in a civil partnership when you die, the Trustee can decide to pay the Adult Survivor's pension to a 'surviving dependant'. This could be a common-law spouse, partner, or someone else who meets the requirements under the Rules of the Scheme and who is financially dependent on you to a substantial extent. Full details are included in the Surviving Dependants Pension Registration form. The Trustee will also need documents to confirm the level to which your surviving dependant depends on you financially. The Trustee will accept documents such as copies of statements for joint bank accounts and joint mortgages or bills in joint names.

If the person you want to receive your Adult Survivor's pension is more than 10 years younger than you, we will reduce the pension at the rate of 1.25% for each year of difference in your ages over 10 years. For example, if the person is 11 years younger than you, we will reduce the pension by 1.25%, or if the person is 12 years younger than you, we will reduce the pension by 2.5%.

Dependent child allowances

Children under 16 can qualify for an allowance when you die. Each allowance is one sixth of your deferred pension and we will increase this if you have paid for Adult Survivor’s pension cover but there is no-one for us to pay the Adult Survivor’s pension to.

The normal Scheme increase arrangements apply to dependent child allowances.

The allowances can also apply up to age 23 for children who are in full-time education or career training (or if they are unable to earn a living because of illness or disability).

We can pay up to two dependent child allowances. However, the Trustee will spread the payments across all eligible children, if this applies. For example, if you have three dependent children, the Trustee would add the two allowances together and divide the total between the three children. The Trustee can also divide the available allowances as it sees fit in any case where there is more than one dependent child. This means that the Trustee could pay one of your children more than the others if it feels this is appropriate. If a child ceases to be eligible for an allowance, the allowances will be redistributed amongst any remaining eligible children.

We usually pay dependent child allowances to the surviving parent or the legal guardian (at least while the child is under 18).

If you die before you draw your deferred pension and there is no Adult Survivor’s pension to pay (either because you have not paid for the Adult Survivor’s pension cover or because there is no-one we can pay the Adult Survivor’s pension to) we will pay a lump sum of the value of your own contributions with interest.

Please ensure you have filled in a Notice of Wish. If you have registered for online communications you can submit your Notice of Wish directly to the Pensions team by logging into Mybapension online and filling in the online Notice of Wish.

You can register for online communications at any time by clicking the 'Register' button, then following the on-screen instructions. If you have not registered for online communications you can print a Notice of Wish form from the 'Forms' page of this website.