Claiming a pension for a child over 18

Olivia2018

My dad died recently whilst still working, he had paid into a LGPS.
I have received forms from them needing further details, on the form it explains that in some cases a small pension can be paid to any children over 18 for numerous reasons but for our situation “if a person is incapacitated by ill-health which arose before the attainment of age 18”

My brother is autistic and received a diagnosis when he was 3, he is now in his thirties. 

Does anyone have any experience of requesting a pension be made payable in these (or similar) circumstances. My brother is also in receipt of PIP. Obviously we could provide proof to the LGPS of this to support the request. 

Also would this affect the death in service payout that we are going to receive? 

Thanks 

Silvertabby

My sympathies on the loss of your dad.

The one-off death in service benefit won't be affected.

In your brother's case, however, I'm afraid that things aren't so clear.  To be eligible, you would basically have to prove that your brother would have remained financially dependant on your dad for the rest of his life.  Is this the case, or is your brother able to work and take care of himself to some degree?

All I can suggest is that you submit a claim on your brother's behalf, and see what your dad's LGPS say.

Marcon

Taken from the LGPS Glossary of Terms:

Eligible child

An eligible child is:

• a natural child born before, on or within 12 months of a member’s death
• an adopted child born before or on the date of the member’s death
• a step-child or a child accepted by the deceased member as a member of the family who was dependent on the member at the date of death.

A child sponsored by the member through a registered charity is not an eligible child.

An eligible child must also be:

• under age 18, or
• aged under 23 and in full-time education or vocation training. Your pension fund can continue to treat a child as an eligible child even if there has been a break in full-time or vocational training, or
• under age 23 and unable to engage in gainful employment because of physical or mental impairment, or
• over age 23, unable to engage in gainful employment because of permanent physical or mental impairment and the child was dependent on the member at the date of death because of that impairment. An independent registered medical practitioner must give their opinion on whether the impairment is likely to be permanent.

chapea

I had this for my daughter who is also autistic her dad died when she was 7 and we claimed this up until she left college also from a LGPS scheme  

once she started claiming universal credit the amount was took off this (was only £8 per week anyway)  so after a year we stopped it as was pointless as full amount was deducted from universal credit and also she had to have medical every 2 years so wasn’t worth the hassle