Kodak lump sum payments

Finst

I have seen pension schemes that include a "funeral benefit", i.e. a lump sum to the estate on the member's death to pay for, well, funeral expenses.

Very very rare however, and if it was a part of the scheme benefits then Aon Hewitt would know about it. The most likely explanation, unfortunately, is that your mum misunderstood something, as others have suggested.

The only other explanation would be that your mum took the tax free lump sum at retirement and used it to buy a separate life cover policy, but without documentation it would be impossible to find this (and on balance, the more likely explanation is that she didn't understand the scheme benefits properly)

whitehound

She always said the money was with Kodak itself, so she didn't buy a separate policy. The "funeral benefit" of which Finst speaks sounds like the best fit so far, although £1,400 would have been a lot for a funeral in those days.

I did not depend on her financially in the strict sense. However, for the last eleven years I have been her carer and living on Carer's Allowance, and before that I was a self employed shop owner. Her death has left me destitute, and with little chance of ever getting a job because I am within a few years of retirement, I live in an outlying village with less than one bus an hour and I have no current references because I haven't worked for anyone else for 17 years, and most of the people I did work for are dead. This money, if it still exists, would enable me to get driving lessons and a second hand car, which would greatly increase my chances of getting a job.

whitehound

Oh and I've been trying to remember why she left Kodak, and I've an idea either that the office itself was closing down or that her boss had retired - either way, that her leaving was some kind of redundancy situation, if that makes any difference to her pension options.

Brynsam

whitehound wrote: »

She always said the money was with Kodak itself, so she didn't buy a separate policy. The "funeral benefit" of which Finst speaks sounds like the best fit so far, although £1,400 would have been a lot for a funeral in those days.

I did not depend on her financially in the strict sense. However, for the last eleven years I have been her carer and living on Carer's Allowance, and before that I was a self employed shop owner. Her death has left me destitute, and with little chance of ever getting a job because I am within a few years of retirement, I live in an outlying village with less than one bus an hour and I have no current references because I haven't worked for anyone else for 17 years, and most of the people I did work for are dead. This money, if it still exists, would enable me to get driving lessons and a second hand car, which would greatly increase my chances of getting a job.

Right - that rules out a 'child's pension for life' (schemes occasionally provide these where a child is permanently incapacitated in some way, so as to prevent them earning a living and supporting themself).

Redundancy can sometimes affect the benefit payable. Contacting TPAS (see post 4 above) seems like the best bet.

whitehound

Further to this, after denying all knowledge of it for months Aon Hewitt finally announced that there *was* a lump sum due, but they can't say how much yet because it's at the Trustees' discretion. They're calling it a Defined Benefit Lump Sum Death Benefit.

Btw, does anyone know whether a DBLSDB is likely to have kept pace with inflation, or whether it's more likely just to be the £1400 it was 40 years ago?

xylophone

http://www.kodakpensionplan2.co.uk/pdf/document-kodakpensionplan2-trust-deed-and-rules-20140328-f.pdf

May assist. See Section 10/11?