Part C:
Awards on Death - Spouses and Civil Partners

Part C deals with the benefits payable to a surviving spouse or civil partner and sets out the qualifying conditions for the main awards –

• spouse’s or civil partner's ordinary pension (Rule C1)
• spouse’s or civil partner's accrued pension (Rule C4)

Certain limitations apply according to marital circumstances – as explained in Rules C5, C8 and C9.
 
Rule C10 explains that when calculating certain benefits account must be taken of pension sharing orders issued by a court on divorce, dissolution of a civil partnership, or annulment. If the firefighter’s own pension is reduced under such an order, the spouse’s or civil partner's benefits will be reduced, too.

Where one of the awards does not apply, an alternative award may be payable – as explained in Rules C6 and C7.

Calculation of the awards is mainly covered in the relevant part of Schedule 3, but Schedule 11 Part I may apply in certain cases involving service before 1 April 1972.

These cases are looked at in two general sections at the end of this Part –

• C Gen 1 which looks at the way in which a firefighter’s service before 1 April 1972 could affect a widow’s ordinary pension, and

• C Gen 2 which looks at the way in which a firefighter’s service before 1 April 1972 could affect a widow’s accrued pension.

Additional provisions in respect of widow(er)s’ and civil partner's awards are in Part E.
Rule C2 (spouse's or civil partner's special award) and Rule C3 (spouse's or civil partner's augmented award) were deleted with effect from 1 April 2006 and the provisions transferred to the Firefighters' Compensation Scheme.

Related downloads:

• Rule C1: Spouse's or civil partner's ordinary pension PDF, 145 kb
• Rule C2: Spouse's or civil partner's special award PDF, 98 kb
• Rule C3: Spouse's or civil partner's augmented award PDF, 77 kb
• Rule C4: Spouse's or civil partner's accrued pension PDF, 76 kb
• Rule C5: Limitation on award to spouse or civil partner by reference to date of marriage or formation of civil partnership PDF, 69 kb
• Rule C6: Spouse's or civil partner's requisite benefit and temporary pension PDF, 59 kb
• Rule C7: Award to spouse or civil partner where no other award payable PDF, 48 kb
• Rule C8: Limitation where spouses or civil partners living apart PDF, 79 kb
• Rule C9: Effect of re-marriage or formation of civil partnership PDF, 33 kb
• Rule C10: Pension debit members PDF, 32 kb
• C Gen 1: Widow's ordinary pension - firefighter with service before 1 April 1972 PDF, 105 kb
• C Gen 2: Widow's accrued pension - firefighter with service before 1 April 1972 PDF, 112 kb