Police Widow's and Survivor Pension Calculator

What each scheme pays, at a glance

The three police pension schemes in England and Wales treat a death very differently. The biggest differences are the size of the death grant, whether an unmarried partner can be paid, and what happens if the survivor later remarries. This table is the summary; the sections below explain each line.

2015: Police Pensions Regulations 2015. 2006: Police Pensions Regulations 2006. 1987: Police Pensions Regulations 1987 and the Home Office 1987 members' guide. Checked 14 October 2026.

Which scheme are you in?

Most serving officers who joined before April 2012 now have benefits in two schemes: a legacy scheme (1987 or 2006) and the 2015 career average scheme. Their survivors get two pensions added together, each worked out on its own scheme's rules. That is why the calculator asks for service in each.

• Joined on or after 1 April 2012: 2015 scheme only.
• In the 1987 or 2006 scheme on 31 March 2012, and served after 1 April 2015: your legacy scheme and then the 2015 scheme. You are in the McCloud remedy group. Service from 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2022 is "remediable service": it counts as legacy service unless the 2015 basis is chosen for it, and since 1 April 2022 everyone builds 2015 benefits.
• Left or retired before 1 April 2015: your legacy scheme only.
• 1987 or 2006? Officers who joined before 6 April 2006 were in the 1987 scheme unless they chose to move. Officers who joined from 6 April 2006 to 31 March 2012 were in the 2006 scheme.

Your annual benefit statement names the schemes, and if you are in the remedy group your remediable service statement shows both options for the remedy years. If you are unsure, ask your pension administrator: the nominations section lists who that is for most forces. Our police pension schemes explained guide covers the schemes in more depth.

In service, retired or deferred: why it matters

The same officer can leave a family very different amounts depending on when they die. The lump sum death grant is a benefit of being an active member: it ends the day you leave, retire or opt out. The survivor's pension carries on in every situation, but what it is a share of changes.

Death in service: half a pension you never drew

When an officer dies serving, the survivor's pension is not half of the pension built up so far. It is half of the ill-health pension the officer would have been given if they had been retired on the day they died. In the 2015 scheme that is the upper-tier ill-health pension: the pension built up, plus final pay divided by 55.3 for half the years left to age 60 (reg 141 and reg 104). In the 2006 scheme it is the standard plus enhanced top-up pension, which adds half the years you could have served to 55. In the 1987 scheme it is the ill-health pension on the 1987 sixtieths scale. For a young officer the enhancement is usually bigger than the pension built up.

Example A below: a constable aged 33 with 8 years in the 2015 scheme on £52,015 has built up about £7,525 a year. The survivor's pension is £10,111 a year because the enhancement adds about £12,698 to the pension it is built on. The full working for each scheme is on our death in service benefits guide.

Death after retirement: half the pension, no lump sum

A retired officer's survivor gets half the pension, worked out on the rules for that scheme. In the 1987 scheme the half is of the pension before commutation, so taking the tax-free lump sum did not reduce it. In the 2006 scheme the automatic lump sum does not reduce it either. In the 2015 scheme the regulation says the half is worked out before any early payment reduction. A 1987 survivor also gets 13 weeks topped up to the officer's weekly pension. Our survivor benefits after retirement guide covers what the family needs to do, tax, and the later-marriage rules.

If you die after leaving, with a deferred pension

This is the situation most officers do not think about: you resign, transfer to another career, or opt out, and keep a deferred pension that starts at the scheme's pension age. If you die before or after it starts:

• No death grant. In all three schemes the lump sum is only for officers who die while serving (2015 reg 155; 2006 reg 46; 1987 reg E3A). For a constable on £52,015 that is £156,045 of cover that stops the day you leave.
• Half the deferred pension for the survivor, for life. 2015 reg 140 (50% of the deferred pension in your deferred member's account, with no minimum service); 2006 reg 41(2) (half the pension as if it had come into payment); 1987 reg C4 (half the deferred pension, "whether or not that pension has or had come into payment").
• Children are covered too, at the same shares as for a pensioner's death. In the 1987 scheme the child's "accrued allowance" is 18.75% of the deferred pension (25% for an orphan).
• No 13-week increase in the 1987 scheme if the deferred pension had not started (guide 5.4.4).
• Later marriages: in the 1987 scheme a marriage after you left gives a pension based only on service after 5 April 1978 (reg C5), which for most officers still serving is all of it. The 2006 and 2015 schemes count a later marriage in full.
• If you transferred the pension out, there is nothing left in the police scheme to pay a survivor (2006 reg 39(b)): your new scheme's rules apply.

Example B below shows the effect: the constable in example A leaves at 33 with a deferred pension of £7,525 a year. If they die later, the family gets no lump sum and a survivor's pension of £3,763 a year, against £156,045 and £10,111 a year had they died serving. If you are weighing up leaving, our resigning and your pension guide and the should I opt out guide cover the rest of what you give up.

Unmarried partners: the 2018 change, and the 1987 gap

The 2006 and 2015 schemes can pay a survivor's pension to an unmarried partner on the same basis as a spouse. Until 2018 the officer and partner had to have signed and sent a joint declaration. The Police and Firefighters' Pensions (Amendment) Regulations 2018 removed that requirement from both schemes, and for the 2006 scheme the change has effect from 6 April 2006. The partner still has to show the scheme manager that the tests below were met at the death.

The lump sum works differently. A spouse or civil partner must be paid it. A qualifying partner can be paid it only at the scheme manager's discretion, and only if there is no spouse or civil partner (2015 reg 156; 2006 reg 46(4)). A separated but not divorced spouse still comes first unless a court order separated you and you were not supporting them. If your relationships have changed, that is the case for an up-to-date nomination and a will.

1987 scheme members with a partner: the scheme pays no survivor's pension to a partner you are not married to or in a civil partnership with, however long you have been together (example F below). The death grant goes to your estate. Marriage or a civil partnership is the only way a partner can get the pension. If that is your situation, our cohabitation and police pensions guide goes through the options.

Remarriage and living with someone new

Whether a police widow or widower keeps the pension on a new relationship depends on the scheme, and for injury awards on when the new relationship started.

The Home Office confirmed in a written answer on 8 September 2025 that the 1987 rule remains. A survivor whose 1987 pension has stopped can apply to the police pension authority to restore it if the new relationship ends.

Children's pensions

Children's pensions are paid whether or not there is an adult survivor. In the 2006 and 2015 schemes they are worked out on the full adult figure, before any cut for an age gap, so a much younger partner's reduction does not pass to the children.

2015 regs 144-146; 2006 reg 42; 1987 regs D1, D4, D5, Schedule D, guide 5.5. A 2006 child's pension can be reduced if the child is in paid training or work above a set rate (reg 42(3)-(5)).

If the officer is killed on duty

When death results from an injury received in the execution of duty, the Police (Injury Benefit) Regulations 2006 add awards that sit outside the pension scheme. They apply whether the officer was serving or had retired, as long as the injury caused the death. The survivor gets the greater of the scheme pension and the special pension, not both.

In example E the constable's scheme pension for the survivor would be about £9,876 a year; the special pension of 45% of pay is £23,407, so that is paid. The adult special award is written for a spouse or civil partner who was married to the officer before they left the force; a later marriage gets a reduced special pension. The full rules, the evidence the family needs and the support available are on our police death on duty survivors guide.

McCloud remedy members: the choice after a death

If you were in the 1987 or 2006 scheme on 31 March 2012, your service from 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2022 can be valued on legacy or 2015 rules, and the choice is normally yours when your pension starts. If you die first, someone else makes it. The survivor's pension for a transition member is the 2015 amount plus what the legacy scheme would have paid (2015 Schedule 4, Part 7), so the choice changes how much sits in each half.

Who the "eligible decision-maker" is

The decision-maker gets a remediable service statement and normally has 12 weeks to choose; the choice cannot then be changed (reg 14). The death grant is not affected: a transition member who dies serving gets the 2015 grant of 3 x final pay, and no legacy grant on top (Schedule 4 para 32). In the calculator, switch the remedy years between the legacy and 2015 basis to see both. Our McCloud remedy explained guide covers the choice for living members.

Nominations: where and how to update yours

A nomination (some administrators call it an expression of wish) tells the scheme manager who you want considered for the lump sum death grant. It is a signed notice to the scheme manager (2015 reg 152; 2006 reg 47) and you can change it at any time the same way. It matters only when there is no spouse, civil partner or qualifying partner, or if you and they die together, and even then the scheme manager has discretion. The 1987 scheme has no nominations: the grant goes to a spouse or civil partner, otherwise to your estate.

From the Home Office administrator list (last updated 15 September 2023) and the administrators' own pages, read 14 October 2026. XPS took over the former Kier police pensions team in Middlesbrough in 2018. Arrangements change: check your latest pension letter or ask force HR.

Nominations are separate from proving an unmarried partner relationship. Some administrators still offer a partner declaration form: it is no longer required, but it can be useful evidence.

Worked examples

Computed by the calculator's own engine on 2026/27 pay. Pensions are a year, before tax; lump sums include any 13-week top-up and injury gratuity. A range for the partner's pension means part of the figure depends on a rule we could not pin down (see not verified).

• A: lump sum 3 x £52,015. Partner's pension 50% of £20,223 (built-up £7,525 plus enhancement). Each child gets half the partner's pension.
• B: no lump sum; 50% of the deferred pension.
• C: half of £28,000, plus a 13-week top-up to the officer's weekly pension.
• D: 2015 grant only. The partner's pension adds the 2015 part on 4.5 years plus the enhancement, and a 2006 part on 17 years, shown as a range.
• E: the injury special pension of 45% of pay beats the scheme pension; the lump sums add the special gratuity and the 13-week top-up.
• F: the partner gets no pension in the 1987 scheme; the child gets 18.75% of the notional ill-health pension, and the death grant goes to the estate.

Myths

Checklist: protect your family's benefits

1. Find your latest annual benefit statement (or deferred benefit statement) and note the scheme or schemes it shows.
2. Check your nomination form says what you mean today. Update it after a new relationship, a separation, a divorce or a death in the family.
3. If you live with an unmarried partner, keep evidence of the relationship and the date you moved in together. In the 1987 scheme, understand that a partner gets no pension unless you marry.
4. Make or update a will: in the 1987 scheme the death grant goes to your estate if there is no spouse or civil partner, and in every scheme the estate is the last stop.
5. If you are thinking of opting out or resigning, ask the administrator in writing what your family would get afterwards. The death grant ends.
6. If you are in the McCloud remedy group, tell your partner that they may have to make the legacy or 2015 choice for the remedy years, and where your remediable service statement is kept.
7. Run the calculator for each situation (in service, after retirement, deferred) and compare the result with your household outgoings.
8. Tell your family who your pension administrator is and where your papers are.

The scheme benefits are formulas, not a plan for your mortgage and bills. Our protection gap calculator compares them with your household outgoings, and the life and income protection guide explains when private cover may be worth looking at. If you want to see the officer's own pension in full, our police pension calculator (a PolicePay product; the full report is £47) projects it by scheme with the McCloud choice.

If you have been bereaved: the Federation, Police Care UK and Care of Police Survivors (COPS) support police families, and Samaritans are available any time on 116 123. Bereavement Support Payment from the state must be claimed within 3 months to get the full amount.

What we could not verify

• Whether a 2015 scheme survivor's pension on a pensioner's death is based on the pension before or after commutation. Reg 139 says before the early payment reduction but is silent on commutation; reg 98 defines the annual rate after commutation. We ask you to enter the pension after commutation and to check.
• Which notional pension the legacy part uses when a McCloud transition member dies in service. Schedule 4 adds "the amount which would have been payable under the [legacy] scheme" to the 2015 amount without saying, so the calculator shows a range.
• The current wording of 1987 regs C7 (under 3 years' service: temporary pension and gratuity), C9 and E3A. legislation.gov.uk holds only the as-made 1987 text, so we rely on the Home Office guide for later changes.
• Whether the 1987 rule that widowers' pensions count a woman officer's service only from 17 May 1990 (and civil partners' only from 6 April 1988) has been changed since the 2006 guide, for example after the Goodwin tribunal ruling on survivor benefits in another public service scheme. We found no police amendment.
• Whether the 2006 Injury Benefit Regulations have been amended to give an unmarried partner the adult special award. The as-made text covers spouses and civil partners only.
• The augmented award gratuity (twice the pay of a Metropolitan Police constable with 30 years' service for pay): we do not hold that figure, so the calculator shows the lower reg 13 gratuity.
• When the Met's pension administration moves to the XPS-led consortium announced in November 2025, and current nomination forms for the forces not listed above.

The calculator also leaves out pension increases, guaranteed minimum pensions, pension sharing orders, added pension, the 2006 earnings test for children in paid training and the gratuities whose size depends on contributions.