If a member of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) dies while still paying in, the local government death in service benefit has three parts: a lump sum death grant of three times annual pay, a pension for the rest of their life for a spouse, civil partner or eligible cohabiting partner, and pensions for eligible children. Membership turns on the employer rather than the job title, so it reaches council staff, non-teaching employees of academies and others whose employer takes part.

The rules below are for England and Wales; Scotland's and Northern Ireland's grants follow further down. If you want a private policy priced to sit alongside the scheme, the free form on this page passes your number to an FCA-authorised broker, who calls you back.

Council, school and other jobs the LGPS covers

The LGPS member website, run by the Local Government Association, says membership needs an employer "that participates in the Scheme", and that you can only join if you are under age 75. Its list of local government employment includes civilian staff of police and fire authorities, coroners and non-teaching employees of an academy.

Some public sector workers are outside it: "Police officers, operational firefighters, most teachers and employees eligible to join the NHS pension scheme are generally not allowed to join the LGPS." Their own schemes are covered for teachers, NHS staff, police officers and firefighters.

Cover begins on the first day. Of a death while paying in, the site says: "It does not matter how long you have been a member of the LGPS, you are protected from the day you join the Scheme."

The death grant: three times assumed pensionable pay

Regulation 40 of the Local Government Pension Scheme Regulations 2013 (SI 2013/2356) sets the grant at three times the member's annual assumed pensionable pay, calculated under regulation 21(4), as at the date of death. For a hypothetical member on £24,000 a year, that would be £72,000; a real figure depends on what counts as pensionable pay.

Assumed pensionable pay is a look-back. For a member paid monthly, regulation 21(4) takes "the pensionable pay the member received relating to that employment in the three months preceding the commencement of the pay period" in which the death occurred (12 weeks for anyone paid otherwise than monthly), deducts any lump sum, grosses the result up to a year and adds any regular lump sum paid in the previous 12 months. If pay in that window was, in the employer's opinion, materially lower than normal, regulation 21(5A) lets the employer substitute a higher figure, having regard to the previous 12 months.

Where an independent registered medical practitioner (IRMP) is of the opinion that the member was in part-time service at the date of death "wholly or partly as a result of the condition that caused or contributed to the member’s death", regulation 40(3) says the resulting reduction in pay is ignored.

The fund, not the member, decides who receives the grant. Regulation 40(2) gives the administering authority absolute discretion to pay it to or for the benefit of the member's nominee, their personal representatives, or anyone who appears to have been a relative or dependant. A member can name who they would like paid on an expression of wish form from their fund, which "will take your wishes into account" when it decides.

Pensions for a partner and for children

Under regulation 41, if an active member dies leaving a surviving spouse, civil partner or cohabiting partner, "that person is entitled to a pension which shall come into payment on the day following the member's death." It is paid for life. Two amounts are added together: a share of the pension the member had built up, and 1/160th of annual assumed pensionable pay for each year or part of a year from the date of death to the member's normal pension age.

The member site gives the partner's share of built-up pension as, generally:

  • 30.625% of the pension built up from April 2014;
  • 37.50% of the pension built up between April 2008 and March 2014;
  • 50% of the pension built up before April 2008.

Unmarried partners

An unmarried partner counts as a cohabiting partner only if the fund is satisfied that conditions in Schedule 1 to the regulations are met, and have been for "a continuous period of at least 2 years" on the date the member died. The member must have been able to marry the partner or form a civil partnership with them; the two must have lived together as if married or as civil partners; neither can have lived with a third person in that way; and "either P is financially dependent on M, or M and P are financially interdependent." The member site adds that these pensions are based only on membership after 5 April 1988, unless the member elected before 1 April 2014 to pay extra contributions for earlier membership to count.

Children

Regulation 42 entitles "one or more eligible children" to a children's pension from the day after the member dies. Schedule 1 defines an eligible child as a natural or adopted child (including a natural child born within 12 months after the death), or a step-child or child accepted as part of the family who was dependent on the member at the date of death, who also meets one of three conditions:

  • aged under 18;
  • in full-time education or vocational training and under 23 (a fund may treat a break in a course as continuing);
  • unable to engage in gainful employment because of physical or mental impairment, and either under 23, or with an impairment an IRMP considers likely to be permanent and dependent on the member because of it at the date of death.

The rate depends on how many children there are and whether a partner's pension is in payment, and several children share their pension equally:

SituationRate applied to pay
One child, partner's pension in payment1/320th
More than one child, partner's pension in payment1/160th
One child, no partner's pension1/240th
More than one child, no partner's pension1/120th

As for a partner, each rate is used both to rework the pension built up and to credit years to normal pension age. If the partner's pension stops, regulation 42(3) has the children's pension recalculated on the no-partner rate.

Leavers, pensioners, Scotland and Northern Ireland

The three-times grant is for active members. According to the member site, someone who has left with a deferred pension has a grant of that annual pension multiplied by 5 if they left after 31 March 2008 (regulation 43 sets the same multiple), or three times that pension if they left before 1 April 2008. A pensioner who left after 31 March 2008 and dies within 10 years of receiving the pension has a grant of 10 times the pension (before any was given up for a lump sum), less what has been paid, with a slight difference for membership before 1 April 2014. Under regulation 40(5), a member who is both active and a deferred or pensioner member receives whichever grant is higher.

In Scotland, regulation 38 of the Local Government Pension Scheme (Scotland) Regulations 2018 has the authority pay a death grant "If an active member dies before attaining the age of 75", of "3 times the member's annual assumed pensionable pay". Northern Ireland's 2014 regulations also set three times assumed pensionable pay, paid at the absolute discretion of the scheme's Committee. Survivor pensions there follow those regulations, so a member can ask their fund what a partner and children would receive and how a cohabiting partner qualifies.

Income tax, and the April 2027 inheritance tax change

HMRC's technical note on inheritance tax on pensions (last updated 29 May 2026) says that if a member dies below age 75, lump sum death benefits are usually tax-free when the member's lump sum and death benefit allowance has not been exceeded; if the member was over 75, "all death benefits are taxable." The member site gives that allowance as £1,073,100 and says personal representatives check it when a death grant is paid.

For deaths on or after 6 April 2027, the Finance Act 2026 brings most unused pension funds and pension death benefits into the value of the estate for inheritance tax. The note treats death in service benefits that meet its conditions as excluded benefits, and a dependants' scheme pension that meets them is excluded too. Only benefits paid from current employment count; payments from schemes tied to previous jobs, where the member was a deferred member, "do not meet the conditions for this exclusion". It also leaves employers and schemes to decide whether members on career breaks, long-term sickness absence or supported redundancy count as in work. Tax rules can change; for private policies, see tax on life insurance payouts.

Questions to weigh beside the scheme

Whether to add private cover is each household's decision. Questions that bear on it:

  • Would the fund's choice of recipient be the person you have in mind? The grant is discretionary; how a private policy can be placed in trust is explained under life insurance trusts.
  • Do you expect to stay in an LGPS job? The three-times grant applies only while you are an active member; after leaving, the grant is a multiple of your deferred pension instead.
  • How would a partner's pension, a share of what you built up plus the years credited, compare with the pay it would replace? Would an unmarried partner meet the cohabiting conditions?
  • When would your children stop counting as eligible (generally at 18, or 23 in education), and how does that compare with a mortgage, rent or childcare?
  • Does your employer provide anything beyond the scheme? Only it can say.

Buying cover beside work benefits is the subject of do I need life insurance if I have death in service, and how much life cover do I need sets out one way to size a policy; how term life insurance works explains cover for a fixed period. If you would like figures for your own household, send the form here and an FCA-authorised broker can go through them with you by phone.

Frequently asked questions

Is LGPS death in service the same as life insurance?

Not quite. The member site describes the scheme as providing "valuable life cover", but the benefits are part of the pension scheme: the fund decides who receives the grant, and the three-times grant applies only while you are an active member.

Does the 50/50 section reduce the death grant?

No. The member site says members of the 50/50 section pay half their normal contributions and build up pension at half the normal rate, but "retain full life cover and ill health cover".

Are AVCs paid out as well?

The member site says that if you pay Additional Voluntary Contributions arranged through the LGPS, the value of your AVC fund is also payable. For members on or after 1 April 2014, the fund uses its discretion to decide who receives it.

Is there an LGPS death in service calculator?

The grant is simple arithmetic once assumed pensionable pay is known. Partner and children's pensions depend on pension built up and years to normal pension age, so your own fund is the place to ask for those numbers.

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