Unmarried Partner's NHS Survivor Pension: Who Qualifies

This guide is for NHS pension members who live with a partner they are not married to or in a civil partnership with, and for partners who want to know where they stand. It is one of the questions our readers ask most, and one where our general guide on NHS pension death benefits deliberately did not go into detail. Here is the rule NHSBSA publishes, the evidence it asks for, and the rate in each section.

The tests a partner must meet

NHSBSA's Survivors guide is the source. All the following must be satisfied at the date of the member's death and must have existed for a continuous period of at least two years:

• ✓ Neither person has a legal partner. That means neither of you has a spouse or registered civil partner, including from an earlier relationship that has not been legally ended
• ✓ You are not related in a way that would prevent marriage or a registered civil partnership
• ✓ You live together in an exclusive relationship as if you were husband and wife or civil partners
• ✓ You are financially interdependent, or the partner is financially dependent on the member. NHSBSA says this is checked after the member dies, and typically means things like sharing bank accounts and a mortgage, naming each other in a Will or running a joint household

NHSBSA's nominations page describes the same test in plainer terms: an exclusive long-term relationship of at least two years, living together, and being free to marry or form a civil partnership with each other for that time without doing so, plus financial dependence or interdependence, for example relying on joint incomes.

Once the conditions are met, NHSBSA says the partner has the same status as a spouse or civil partner, and any lump sum on death would automatically be payable to them unless the member made a valid nomination in favour of someone else.

Evidence NHS Pensions asks for

Nothing is assumed. The Survivors guide says that if the conditions appear to be met, the nominated or non-nominated partner needs to provide at least two forms of supporting documentation as proof of financial interdependency or dependency. NHSBSA's examples are a shared mortgage, bank accounts or household expenditure documents.

• Joint finances: a joint mortgage or tenancy, joint bank or savings accounts, shared household bills.
• Each naming the other: Wills, a nomination on a pension, a life policy or a bank account.
• Living together: evidence you share the same address for at least the two years.
• Certificates: NHSBSA lists the member's death certificate, the partner's birth certificate and, where relevant, a change of name deed, the death certificate of any earlier spouse or civil partner, or a decree absolute or dissolution of civil partnership certificate. It accepts only originals or certified copies, copies them and returns them.

Keep these papers together in one place. A surviving partner who has to find them while grieving is in a harder position than one who knows where the folder is.

Nominating your partner

NHSBSA's nominations page sets out the position for a couple who are not married. It says a partner who lives with you but is not your spouse or civil partner can receive benefits only if you nominate them, and then adds that they may still be eligible without a nomination if they meet the criteria. The Survivors guide speaks of both nominated and non-nominated partners. In practice, nominating is the way to put your wishes and the relationship on record.

• ✓ Form PN1: partner nomination for an adult dependant's pension
• ✓ Form DB2: lump sum on death nomination for membership on or after 1 April 2008. DB1 is the equivalent where membership ended before 1 April 2008
• ✓ Online: use My NHS Pension to make, change or delete nominations. NHSBSA says changes show straight away on the system, but the Annual Benefit Statement updates only in June
• ✓ By post: send the form to NHS Pensions, PO Box 683, Unit 5, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE5 9EE. A new nomination replaces the old one
• ✓ Exclusions: NHSBSA says you cannot nominate a partner for an adult dependant's pension if you stopped paying into the NHS Pension before 1 April 2008, or if you are a Pension Credit member only who has never paid into your own NHS Pension

Our guide to updating your nomination and beneficiary details walks through the steps and the life events that make a nomination out of date. Nominating a partner for the lump sum is a separate decision from the partner's pension, and a single person can nominate someone for the lump sum on death only.

What the partner gets, section by section

A qualifying Scheme partner gets the same adult dependant's pension as a spouse, calculated by the section the member was in. These percentages are from the Survivors guide for the death of a pensioner member, as a share of the member's pension in payment, excluding any additional pension unless dependants' cover was bought with it.

The guide also says a short-term pension equal to the rate of the member's pension in payment is paid for the first three months, or six months where there is at least one eligible dependent child. Death in service, and death with a deferred pension, use different formulas, based on a notional pension or on pensionable pay, which the Survivors guide sets out in tables for each section. If the continuing pension would be under £260 a year when it starts, NHSBSA says it is converted to a one-off payment.

For a partner whose own tax position matters, the pension in payment is taxable income. See our death grant tax treatment guide for how survivor benefits are taxed, and the net income calculator to see what a survivor's pension leaves after tax.

How long the partner's pension is paid

• Membership extended to or beyond 1 April 2008: payable for life, whether or not the recipient remarries, forms a civil partnership or lives with someone else as a spouse or partner.
• Membership ended before 1 April 2008: it normally ends if the recipient remarries, forms a civil partnership or lives with someone else as a spouse or partner. NHSBSA says it may be reinstated if withdrawing it causes severe financial hardship.
• Telling NHS Pensions: NHSBSA's change of circumstances page says an adult dependant of a deceased pensioner must notify NHS Pensions if they remarry, enter a civil partnership or cohabit. Failing to report can lead to an overpayment that has to be repaid. See overpayment letters explained.
• An adult dependant's pension does not form part of the member's estate and cannot be transferred to anyone else.

The lump sum on death

A lump sum on death benefit is a separate payment. NHSBSA says the Scheme is not discretionary: the lump sum is paid to the legal spouse, registered civil partner or qualifying Scheme partner unless the member has nominated someone else on the lump sum nomination form (DB2). If there is no spouse, civil partner, qualifying partner or nomination, it goes to the estate, and sight of probate or letters of administration is requested if it is £5,000 or more. A partner who qualifies as a Scheme partner is paid automatically, with no nomination needed. Three points matter:

• It may not be payable. NHSBSA's nominations page says a lump sum is not payable if the member has been receiving their pension for five years or more, and it mentions tax charges for deaths after 75. The Survivors guide has the detail.
• The two-year rule. The lump sum must be paid within two years of the member's death first being notified, or it is subject to an HMRC tax charge of up to 45%.
• Inheritance Tax. NHSBSA says a lump sum paid to a spouse or registered civil partner is not included in an Inheritance Tax assessment, but one paid to a qualifying Scheme partner or nominee may be, so the partner should check their own position. See NHS pension and Inheritance Tax.

Cases that do not qualify

• ✓ Either partner is still legally married or in a civil partnership, even if separated, because the test is that neither has a legal partner
• ✓ Less than two years together at the date of death, on any of the conditions
• ✓ Living apart, or each keeping finances wholly separate with no interdependence or dependence
• ✓ Related in a way that would prevent marriage or a civil partnership
• ✓ The member stopped paying into the scheme before 1 April 2008, where NHSBSA says a partner cannot be nominated for an adult dependant's pension
• ✓ A Pension Credit member only, who has never paid into their own NHS Pension, who cannot nominate a partner for an adult dependant's pension

What to do now, and what the surviving partner does