What survivor's pension would your spouse receive from your DB scheme?
Most defined benefit schemes pay a survivor's pension of around half the member's pension for the rest of the survivor's life, though the fraction and the qualifying conditions are set by scheme rules rather than by statute. Two things routinely surprise households: an unmarried partner may not qualify at all, and the survivor's pension is often based on the pension before any tax-free cash was taken.
- The typical level: around 50% of the member's pension, paid for the survivor's lifetime.
- The qualifier: spouse or civil partner automatically; an unmarried partner only where scheme rules allow.
- The base: usually the pension before commutation, but not in every scheme.
- Children: many schemes pay separate children's pensions on top, usually to a set age.
01 What a survivor's pension typically pays
A survivor's pension is a percentage of the member's pension, paid for the survivor's lifetime and usually escalating in line with the scheme's normal increases. Around half is the most common level in UK defined benefit schemes, and public service schemes cluster in a similar range with their own specific fractions.
It is calculated on the member's pension, so anything that reduces that pension can reduce the survivor's too. Early retirement reductions normally flow through; commutation for tax-free cash usually does not, because most schemes base the survivor's entitlement on the pension before any cash was taken — but this varies and is worth confirming.
The pension is payable for life in most schemes. Older scheme rules that stopped payment on remarriage or cohabitation have largely been removed, though some remain in legacy arrangements.
Source: Pension types and how they work
02 Who counts as a survivor
A spouse or civil partner qualifies automatically. An unmarried partner does not, and this is the gap that causes the most damage. Many schemes now recognise a financially interdependent cohabiting partner, but the conditions differ — some require a nomination form, some require evidence of two years of cohabitation, and some do not provide for it at all.
Where a nomination is required, an unsubmitted form is the whole difference between a lifetime income and nothing. It is a ten-minute task with a five-figure or six-figure consequence, and it needs revisiting after any change of circumstances.
Children's pensions are usually separate and additional, payable to a set age or while in full-time education. They are typically a smaller percentage and are not affected by the survivor's own entitlement.
Source: Pension types and how they work
03 What this means for planning
A household where one partner has a substantial defined benefit pension and the other has little of their own is relying on the survivor's pension as a core part of the plan, and it is usually only half of what the household is living on. Modelling life after the first death is the part of retirement planning most often skipped, and it is where the shortfall shows.
It also shapes other decisions. It makes a transfer out more consequential, because the transferred pot has no survivor's pension attached — only whatever is left in it. It affects whether a joint-life annuity is needed elsewhere, and it changes the value of a spouse's own State Pension record, since the State Pension largely does not pass on under the new system.
Shows: the household income before and after the first death, with the survivor's pension applied. Ignores: tax, inflation increases, children's pensions, and the exact fraction your scheme applies.
On the defaults above, the worked example shows £19,400 a year. Household income falls from £36,000 to about £19,400 — the scheme pension halves and only part of the other income continues.
Source: The new State Pension
The thing I would fix this week if it applies to you is the nomination form. Cohabiting partners have no automatic right to a survivor's pension, and a lot of schemes that do provide for them require a form that most members have never filled in. Marriage changes the answer instantly and completely, which is an uncomfortable planning fact but a true one. Beyond that, model the year after the first death. Household income does not halve, it falls further than that, because the second State Pension stops entirely and only part of the scheme pension continues.
FAQ
Will my unmarried partner get anything?
Only if the scheme provides for it, and usually only if a nomination form has been completed and the qualifying conditions on cohabitation and financial interdependence are met. There is no statutory right, which is why the form matters.
Does taking tax-free cash reduce my spouse's pension?
In most schemes no — the survivor's pension is calculated on the pension before commutation. Some schemes calculate it afterwards, so it is worth confirming with the administrator before choosing a lump sum.
Does my spouse inherit my State Pension too?
Very little of it. Under the new State Pension a survivor can generally inherit a protected payment and, in some cases, part of an additional State Pension, but nothing like the whole amount. Each partner's own record is what matters.
Sources
Regulator references
- Pension types and how they work · GOV.UK · 2025The defined benefit and defined contribution split this post turns on.Last verified: 2026-09-07
- The new State Pension · GOV.UK · 2025Sets the qualifying-year rules and the full new State Pension rate this post works from.Last verified: 2026-09-07
Calculator unit tests · the assertions this page's worked example is checked against, and their last result
Changelog
- 2026-09-07 — initial publish (new format)
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Jordan Reeves
Founder of Talk Through Wealth. A software engineer for over a decade before turning to retirement planning, Jordan built the projection engine after watching family members get fragmented, country-by-country advice that never reconciled. He writes about retirement the way the engine computes it: month-by-month, lifetime-long, and skeptical of any rule of thumb that hasn't been run through the math.