Death in Service
What Your Family Would Receive

All three schemes calculate a death-in-service survivor pension by asking what pension you would have been given if you had retired on the day you died on the most generous ill-health terms, then paying the survivor half of it. That is better than half of what you had accrued, because the ill-health calculation adds the years you did not serve.

• 2015 scheme (regulation 141): 50% of the ill-health pension payable had you met the upper tier. That is your accrued pension plus the enhancement: final pay divided by 55.3, multiplied by half the years between your death and age 60. With under 5 years' service the enhancement is capped at three times accrued pension. You need at least two years' qualifying service.
• 2006 scheme (regulation 41): half the annual sum you would have received with a standard and an enhanced top-up ill-health pension, where the enhanced figure adds half the service you would have done to age 55.
• 1987 scheme (Schedule C, Part I): half the ill-health pension under regulation B3 (for example, 22/60ths of average pensionable pay at 15 years' service). You need three years' pensionable service.

Three further rules can reduce or delay a survivor pension: in the 2006 and 2015 schemes the pension is reduced by 2.5% for each full year a survivor is more than 12 years younger than you (capped at 50%); the scheme manager may in its discretion withhold a pension from a spouse or civil partner if you were married or formed the civil partnership less than six months before your death; and a pension is not payable to a spouse or civil partner from whom you were separated by a court order if you were not supporting them.

Take a constable on £52,015 (top of the 2026/27 scale), aged 33, with 8 years in the 2015 scheme. This is an illustration, not a quote.

1. Accrued pension: £52,015 x 8 / 55.3 = about £7,525 a year. (Real accrual uses each year's pensionable earnings, revalued.)
2. Years to normal pension age: 60 minus 33 = 27 years.
3. Enhancement: £52,015 / 55.3 x half of 27 years = about £12,698 a year.
4. Notional upper-tier ill-health pension: £7,525 + £12,698 = about £20,223 a year.
5. Survivor pension: 50% of that = about £10,111 a year, for life.
6. Each child's pension: 50% of the survivor pension = about £5,056 a year for one or two children; with three or more children the children together share an amount equal to the survivor pension.
7. Lump sum: 3 x final pay = about £156,045.

The enhancement is the reason a young officer's family receives far more than a pension built only on eight years' service would suggest, and also the reason the benefit varies so much with age: an officer of 50 with 8 years' service would have a much smaller enhancement.

Spouse or civil partner. Someone married to you or in a civil partnership with you at the date of your death. They qualify automatically if the service test is met.

Unmarried partner (2006 and 2015 schemes only). Under regulation 135 of the 2015 Regulations (and regulation 40 of the 2006 Regulations), as amended, a person is a survivor if all of these are true:

• You were cohabiting as partners in an exclusive, committed long-term relationship.
• Either they were financially dependent on you or you were financially interdependent.
• You were able to marry or form a civil partnership with each other.
• They satisfy the scheme manager that those circumstances continued to your death and that you had cohabited for at least two years. The scheme manager can, in its discretion, accept a shorter period where you would have reached two years had you not died.

Earlier versions of both sets of regulations also required a signed declaration, signed by both of you and sent to the scheme before you died. The Police and Firefighters' Pensions (Amendment) Regulations 2018 (SI 2018/997) removed that requirement, so there is no form to lodge, but your partner carries the burden of satisfying the scheme manager, which is why keeping evidence matters. In the 1987 scheme an unmarried partner has no survivor pension at all. Our cohabitation guide covers this in more depth.

Children. In the 2015 scheme an eligible child is a natural, adopted or step-child of the member, or another child or young person substantially dependent on the member financially or because of impairment, who is 18 or under; or under 23 in full-time education or vocational training on a course of at least one year; or under 23 and unable to work because of impairment; or dependent on the member because of a permanent impairment that prevents regular work. A child born after your death counts if the mother was pregnant at the date of your death.

The lump sum is 2 times your annual pensionable pay in the 1987 scheme, and 3 times in the 2006 and 2015 schemes (final pay in the 2015 scheme, which is the greater of your pensionable earnings in the last 12 months and your best of the last 10 scheme years adjusted for inflation). It is payable whether or not a survivor pension is payable. If you work part time, the lump sum is based on your part-time pensionable pay in the 1987 scheme.

The regulations set an order of payment. It is worth reading carefully, because the popular belief that "the lump sum goes to whoever is on the form" is not quite right.

So a nomination does not override a surviving spouse or civil partner. It matters when you have no spouse or civil partner, or they do not qualify, and you want the scheme manager to consider a particular person, such as an unmarried partner who does not meet the qualifying tests, a parent, or an adult child. Even then the decision is at the scheme manager's discretion, so a nomination is a strong indication of your wishes, not a guarantee. In the 2015 scheme a nomination is invalid if the nominee predeceases you or is convicted of your murder, and the scheme manager can treat it as invalid if they are convicted of another offence involving your unlawful killing or wounding; the grant then goes to your personal representative.

How to nominate. Give the scheme manager a signed notice on the form it requires; you can revoke or change it the same way, and the scheme manager must send you written notification of receipt. In the 2006 scheme the nomination must be signed and sent to the force you were serving in, and only has effect if it was sent before any award under the regulations (other than a pension credit) came into payment. Keep the notification.

Divorce. A former spouse is not a surviving spouse, so once a divorce is final the automatic priority ends. Until then a separated spouse still qualifies unless a court order separated you and you were not supporting them or their child. See our guide to death in service and divorce and update your forms.

Tax. We have not assumed any tax treatment for the lump sum in this guide. The 2015 regulations allow you to give notice that the grant is to be treated as a pension protection lump sum death benefit for tax purposes where the Finance Act 2004 conditions are met. Ask your administrator or a tax adviser about your own position.

Children's pensions are worked out from the same notional ill-health pension as the survivor pension. In the 2015 scheme the rate is worked out from the surviving adult's pension whether or not a surviving adult's pension becomes payable, so children are covered even if your partner has no entitlement. Each child gets 50% of that pension where there are one or two eligible children; with three or more, each child receives an equal share of an amount equal to the full survivor pension. The 2006 scheme works the same way. In the 1987 scheme a child's ordinary allowance is 18.75% of the notional ill-health pension, capped at 37.5% in total where more than two are payable, with higher rates for orphans.

In the 2006 scheme a child's pension stops at 19 unless they are in full-time education (until 23) or dependent because of permanent disablement. Payment for a child under 18 goes to the surviving adult if the child is in their care, unless the scheme manager directs otherwise.

Part 2 of the Police (Injury Benefit) Regulations 2006 provides additional awards when a member "dies as the result of an injury received without their own default in the execution of duty". They sit outside the pension scheme, are paid by the police authority, and, where a person would be entitled to more than one survivor award, the regulations pay one only: the one selected by the person, or the greater. Damages or compensation recovered in respect of the death can be taken into account against the gratuities under regulations 12 and 21. The adult elements are limited to a surviving spouse or civil partner, so as we read regulation 13, an unmarried partner does not receive the special award. Children's allowances and other dependants' gratuities are separate. Our survivors and dependants guide covers these awards in full, including the remarriage rules and how to claim.

This is an illustration, not a quote. It takes a constable at the top of the 2026/27 constable scale (£52,015), married with two dependent children, with service typical of each scheme, and sets the result against household outgoings of £2,300 a month with no other income. Final pay is taken as today's salary, so real figures will differ.

In the 2015 scheme a survivor's pension is payable from the date of the member's death, and a child's pension from the date of death or, for a child born afterwards, the date of birth. For the purpose of an appeal, the survivor is taken to have claimed on the date of death. An unmarried partner must satisfy the scheme manager that the relationship conditions continued to the date of death and that two years' cohabitation is met, so keep evidence: joint tenancy or mortgage, joint accounts, bills, insurance in joint names, anything showing you lived together and depended on each other.

If a survivor makes a false declaration or deliberately suppresses a material fact, the scheme manager can stop the pension and recover what has been paid, so be accurate and complete.

If the scheme manager refuses a claim, refuses to pay a benefit that arises on conditions being met, or refuses a larger benefit than granted, a person can appeal to the Crown Court (for home police forces). The regulations bar an appeal against anything done under a power that is expressly discretionary, such as paying a lump sum to a partner or nominee in place of the estate, so a discretionary decision cannot be challenged that way. If you or your family face a refusal, take specialist legal advice promptly, including on other remedies, and involve your Federation representative.

Bereavement Support Payment is a state payment, not a police benefit. On 30 September 2026 GOV.UK showed that a spouse, civil partner or (with extra conditions) unmarried partner who meets the National Insurance and residence rules, and who was under State Pension age, can claim. The higher rate is a one-off £3,500 plus 18 monthly payments of £350 if you were getting Child Benefit or were pregnant; otherwise £2,500 and monthly payments of £100. Claim within three months of the death to get all the payments. See GOV.UK for the current rules, and check how it interacts with any benefits your family receives.

Federation and force support. The Police Federation and forces run welfare support and some branches have group benefit schemes. What exists and what it pays is local: ask your branch. We give no figure.

Private cover. If you want to go further, our independent guide to life insurance and income protection for officers explains the products and the questions to ask an adviser.