Commentary on Sections Married couples and provisions for widows/ widowers
1215.Both members of a married couple may defer their pension entitlement, either by deferring their own individual Category A pension, or as a consequence of the spouse, from whose contributions the other partner’s pension is derived, deferring his. Each member of the couple will have the choice of either increments or (providing the deferment period is at least 12 months) a lump sum, in respect of their deferred pension. So, for example, a woman may prefer an increase to her weekly pension, while her husband elects to receive a lump sum.
1216.If a deferrer dies before claiming it is intended that his surviving spouse will be able to choose to “inherit” either a lump sum or increments based on the deceased’s deferred entitlement (subject to provisions which restrict this right in respect of deferred pension based on the survivor’s own contributions). This choice will only be available if the person had deferred for at least 12 months. In all other respects, the conditions for “inheriting” a lump sum will be the same as for inheriting increments, that is, that the survivor was married to the deceased at the time of death, has attained state pension age and has claimed their own pension (and has not remarried before claiming their pension).
1217.Should the death occur before the spouse has attained state pension age, the lump sum as nominally accrued at the date of the deferrer’s death will be increased annually in order to broadly maintain its value in line with prices up to the point at which the surviving spouse claims his or her pension. The value of increments earned by a deceased partner is currently protected in a similar way.
1218.The calculation of the lump sum for survivors will reflect the proportion of increments that can be inherited; that is, 100% of the lump sum derived from the basic Category A pension, a proportion of the lump sum derived from the additional pension and one-half from deferred Graduated Retirement benefit.
1219.In order to maintain consistency with the existing rule relating to the inheritability of increments, before April 2010 a widower’s entitlement to an inheritable lump sum will be restricted to cases where the widower is himself over pension age at the time his wife dies.