Civil service pension scheme deceased member benefits

scoops47

Can anyone help us under stand please?

my sister died recently, she had been a civil servant for 38 years, and was still working.  My niece will receive her member benefits but because of the 2015 reform (since found to be discriminatory on age) she has been given two options to choose from.

option A is a smaller amount of money than option B, so it seems obvious but is there a catch?

option A - start date to 31/03/2022 PCSPS

option B - 31/03/2015 - PCSPS THEN 01/04/2015 to last day of service - alpha.

can anyone advise please? My niece is very young and this is her financial future at stake.

thank you 

DE_612183

So we assume start date of 1986?

Have they said why Option A is only until 2022, and why Option B only starts in 2015?

I presume that when you say "a smaller amount of money" you refer to the benefit that will be paid?

There should be a lump sum as well as a monthly payment ( depending on the age of the neice ).

hugheskevi

When a member dies in service there are two types of payment.

The first is a death benefit lump sum, this should be the same under both option A and option B will be two times salary.

The second are the survivor benefits which are paid to partners and dependants. Is the niece the only beneficiary? If so, then probably the higher amount will be the best choice. The scheme has to offer a choice even where one option is unambiguously better than the other. You may however wish to check that the rules around when the pension will cease and how time in higher education will be treated are the same under both options.