Death in service
If you die in service as a member of the FPS 2015, a death grant would be payable. This would normally be three times your final pay at the date of death. Final pay is normally the greater of the following –
(a) the amount of the your pensionable pay and assumed pensionable pay during your last 365 days of continuous pensionable service, or
(b) the amount of the your pensionable pay and assumed pensionable pay during your last 3 years of pensionable service, divided by three.
If you have continuous pensionable service of less than 365 days, the pay would be uplifted to reflect a full year.
If you have more than one active member's account, a lump sum death benefit is payable in respect of each of those accounts.
Death on pension
A death grant may also be payable if you die after retirement and you have been receiving pension payments for less than five years. In these circumstances, the death grant would be the difference between five times the annual amount of pension and the amount of instalments of pension paid. It is in effect a five year guarantee of pension.
If you were both an active member and a pensioner member at the date of death, the highest lump sum death benefit would be payable.
General
The FRA has absolute discretion who to pay the death grant to, but you may nominate the person(s) that you would like to receive it. You can usually ask your FRA for a form to fill in. The authority would take your wishes into account when making their decision.
Tax rules prevent the payment of a death grant for someone who has reached the age of 75 but it is unlikely that a firefighter would still be serving at that age. There is no death grant payable for a deferred pension which has not come into payment at the date of death of the firefighter.