What happens to DB public sector pension on death

M

meadow

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I am private sector and my spouse is public sector,

If I die in service, my spouse receives 4xsalary plus my defined contribution pension pot.
If die in retirement, my spouse/beneficiaries will receive my remaining ARF. (I wont purchase an annuity)

How does does this work for public sector defined benefit pensions ? If the pension recipient dies in retirement does the DB pension (or a percentage thereof) pass to the spouse/dependents ? Same question for in service.

Thanks
 
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See page 33 for death in service benefits, and death in retirement.


The death benefits for earlier PS pension scheme might be slightly different.
 
Many thanks for that response, in relation to death in retirement it says

"Your spouse / civil partner may also be granted a survivor’s pension equal to half of the rate of your pension at the date of your death."

This doesnt seem very clear, would you know the criteria for deciding whether this is paid and who makes that decision ?

Many thanks
 
The spouse's pension scheme for civil and public servants was introduced in 1978 (I think) for men and in 1981 for women. At the time, staff could opt in or out. By the mid 80s, all new staff were opted in, and had no choice. There may be a number of staff or pensioners who never opted in, whose spouses would not get a survivor's pension. They could apply for the State Widow's/Widower's pension.
 
meadow said:
Many thanks for that response, in relation to death in retirement it says

"Your spouse / civil partner may also be granted a survivor’s pension equal to half of the rate of your pension at the date of your death."

This doesnt seem very clear, would you know the criteria for deciding whether this is paid and who makes that decision ?

Many thanks
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I think you would apply to the Department or state body where your spouse worked.
 
Is it fair to say that if your deceased spouse would have had full service at retirement, and was earning, say, €80,000 a year, you’d get the amounts below?

- €20,000 in pension

- Circa €11,000 in Widow(er)’s Pension (unless you cohabit again), with slightly more if you’ve dependent children
 
gipimann said:
By the mid 80s, all new staff were opted in, and had no choice.
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But only if you were married and/or had children on entering service, right?

AFAIK you if you entered service unmarried and childless you had to choose to opt in to the spouses&children's contribution rate once you had children or got married. There is some possibility to buy back years before I think.

I am not sure if it is like that for the Single Scheme.
 
If you are single your pension dies with you despite the amount of contributions you may have made over 40 years. A fact rarely mentioned when quoting the "Rolls Royce" PS pensions line.
 
Threadser said:
Children are entitled to 33 and a third of spouses pension. Not sure how that applies if there is no spouse?
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As far as I can remember, the “children’s pension” payable on a member’ death, only applies if children are under age 18 (probably an unlikely scenario if you are talking about death after retirement).
 
That makes sense, so contributions that single people make over their lifetime die with them apart from the lump sum they may have received unless they have children under 18/21 which is less likely after retirement age.
 
NoRegretsCoyote said:
But only if you were married and/or had children on entering service, right?

AFAIK you if you entered service unmarried and childless you had to choose to opt in to the spouses&children's contribution rate once you had children or got married. There is some possibility to buy back years before I think.

I am not sure if it is like that for the Single Scheme.
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There are (or were) 2 spouse's pension schemes, original and revised. Under the revised scheme, all employees recruited after a date in 1984 were enrolled in the scheme, whether single or not. Paying back years is compulsory (with some very limited exceptions), and is backdated to date of first employment in the public service. Moneys due can be taken from the retirement lump sum if not bought during working life.

I don't know how it works with the single scheme.
 
Only slight benefit here for PS workers who are unmarried and childless is that you can claim back your contributions to the spouses and children's scheme on retirement. There was choice given on this whereby you had to decide if you wanted your "as yet to be found spouse" to be covered by your pension if you died or whether you wanted your contributions back rather than having to pay for everyone elses spouses and children. It was a guessing game but I decided any future spouse would have to be financially self sufficient so I opted for the refund! Not sure if this option is available to new entrants.
 
I understand the refund was only available to people in the original scheme, not the revised (post 1984) scheme (that was my reading of the CS superannuation handbook).
 
I think I signed those forms in the early 2000s as it was given as an option then (primary teachers pension) . I started paying contributions in 1987. Not sure if it was only available to pre 95 entrants but I know people who have got refunds in the past year.
 
Gordon Gekko said:
Is it fair to say that if your deceased spouse would have had full service at retirement, and was earning, say, €80,000 a year, you’d get the amounts below?

- €20,000 in pension
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That would be the case if the deceased spouse was in the regular pre-1995 scheme (Class A/D PRSI).

For post 1995 schemes (Class A PRSI) the full pension at normal retirement would be €80K - State Pension = €27K. So the eligible survivor would get €27k/2 = €13.5K. I believe the State Pension figure for this calculation is the figure pertaining on the last day of pensionable employment rather that at death.
They would also be eligible for the Widow/Widowers pension based on the spouse's PRSI if they didn't qualify on their own behalf (but they could not claim this and the State Pension simultaneously).
 
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