Pensions are payable in advance, usually at monthly intervals by credit transfer to a bank or building society account.
Payment of survivor benefits begins as soon as possible after a member’s death (time is needed to make contact with the survivor and establish entitlement). Subsequent payments to survivors are made monthly.
Pensions and lump sums are paid to the survivor unless this person is under 18 or incapable of managing his or her financial affairs. An eligible child’s pension payable to an eligible child who is under 18 and who is in the care of your adult survivor must be paid to that adult survivor.
If your pension payments (for all your pensions excluding State Pension) are small and you have reached your State Pension age (SPA), you may ask for the whole of the remaining 2015 Scheme pension payments to be paid to you as a lump sum, the whole of which may be taxable. This is called ‘trivial commutation’ in HM Revenue and Customs terminology. HMRC rules govern what may be payable.
Your 2015 Scheme pension can only be paid to you.
State Pension benefits
SPA is the age at which you become eligible for the State Pension, providing you meet eligibility conditions.
You can use the GOV.UK website to check your State Pension age as well as to check your State Pension forecast.
Pensions increase with inflation
Pensions in payment are increased annually. These increases are paid to all pensioners who have reached normal minimum pension age (NMPA).
Deferred pensions are also increased to maintain their value up to the date they come into payment.
Increases are also paid:
- if before you reach NMPA you are in receipt of an ill-health pension or a
deferred pension paid early on ill-health grounds - to your survivors who are in receipt of survivor benefits
When the pension increase becomes payable it will take account of the movement in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) since the beginning date of your pension.
Subsequent increases take place in April of each year and are based on the rise in the CPI in the 12 months up to the end of the previous September.
The pensions increase is applied to pensions payable from the 2015 Scheme irrespective of your country of residence after your retirement, although increases to your State Pension and any Guaranteed Minimum Pension element in your pension may be affected if you live outside the UK.