LIFETRACK
Your benefits
Death benefits
On your death, the Main Section will provide pension and/or lump sum benefits to others on your behalf in certain circumstances. Your personal representatives must notify the Administrator of RWE Group, WTW, of your death by completing a notice of bereavement. They can do this on the online Bereavement Hub or by contacting The Bereavement Support Service, PO Box 545, Redhill, Surrey, RH1 1YX or via email.
The Group Trustees have discretion over who receives any lump sum benefit payable on your death. They can consider, but cannot be bound by, your wishes. You can indicate your wishes by completing/updating a form in the ‘Update beneficiaries’ section of LIFETRACK.
Benefits on death as a Contributing Member
If you die while a Contributing Member, the following benefits are payable:
Lump sum: a lump sum of four times your Pensionable Salary together with the total of your own contributions paid to the Main Section, with interest. In some circumstances, slightly more may be paid. If you paid reduced member contributions in the past, the lump sum may be less.
If you are married or in a civil partnership when you die, the Group Trustees are required to pay one times your Pensionable Salary, with interest, to your Spouse. The balance of the lump sum (three times your Pensionable Salary) is paid in the usual way.
For the purposes of calculating the lump sum payable, Pensionable Salary has a special meaning. It is the greater of the amount as set out in the definition of Pensionable Salary in the glossary and your salary at the date of your death plus any other cash earnings received from your Employer over the year to the date of your death.
Spouse’s pension: a pension for your Spouse of 58% of the pension you would have received had you remained in Contributing Service until your Normal Pension Age. The pension will be based on your Pensionable Salary at the date of your death (or if you die after your Normal Pension Age, had you retired on the date of your death).
If, before you died, you had no Spouse but were in a relationship closely resembling marriage with a person who was your Financial Dependant, the Spouse’s pension is paid to that person.
If there is no such person, the Group Trustees can decide, at their discretion, to pay up to the amount of the Spouse’s pension to one or more of your Financial Dependants, if any.
Example of spouse's pension payable
Katie was a Contributing Member of the Main Section when she passed away at age 56. She had been a Contributing Member for 20 years and her Pensionable Salary at the time of her death was £60,000. She is survived by her husband, Mark. Mark is entitled to a Spouse’s pension calculated as follows:
£60,000 x 27 (20 years + 7 years until Normal Pension Age) x 1/80 x 58% = £11,745
Mark would also be entitled to this pension if he was, before her death, Katie’s Financial Dependant and in a relationship closely resembling marriage with her.
Children’s allowance: a pension to each of your Qualifying Children of the higher of 25% of the Spouse’s pension calculated as set out above and a cash amount which increases each year in the same way as pensions in payment. As at 1st April 2024, the cash amount was £4,230.90.
If a pension, calculated as set out in the Spouse’s pension section above, is not paid to the person taking care of your Qualifying Children, the amount of pension for each of your Qualifying Children is increased to the higher of 37.5% of the Spouse’s pension and 150% of the cash amount described above.
If you have more than four Qualifying Children, the children’s allowance payable will be four times the children’s allowance as calculated above, shared between all of your Qualifying Children.
Pre-1978 Members: A full Spouse’s pension is only payable if you paid the required contributions for this in the past. The amount of pension is based on the pension you would have received had you remained in Contributing Service until age 65 (rather than your Normal Pension Age), with your Contributing Service restricted to a maximum of 40 years before age 60.
Benefits on death as a Deferred Member
If you die while a Deferred Member, the following benefits are payable:
Lump sum: an amount equal to the total:
the one-off cash lump sum that would have been payable to you had you retired on the date of your death; plus
five times the annual pension that would have been payable to you had you retired on the date of your death,
with interest and no allowance for future pension increases.
Spouse’s pension: a pension for your Spouse of 58% of the pension that would have been payable to you had you retired on the date of your death.
If, before you died, you had no Spouse but were in a relationship closely resembling marriage with a person who was your Financial Dependant, the Spouse’s pension is paid to that person. If there is no such person, the Group Trustees can decide, at their discretion, to pay up to the amount of the Spouse’s pension to one or more of your Financial Dependants, if any.
Children’s allowance: a pension to each of your Qualifying Children of the higher of 25% of the Spouse’s pension calculated as set out above and a cash amount which increases each year in the same way as pensions in payment. As at 1st April 2024, the cash amount was £4,230.90.
If a pension, calculated as set out in the Spouse’s pension section above is not paid to the person taking care of your Qualifying Children, the amount of pension for each of your Qualifying Children is increased to the higher of 37.5% of the Spouse’s pension and 150% of the cash amount described above.
If you have more than four Qualifying Children, the children’s allowance payable will be four times the children’s allowance as calculated above, shared between all of your Qualifying Children.
Pre-1978 Members: A full Spouse’s pension is only payable if you paid the required contributions for this in the past.
Disclaimer
This guide is a summary of the main provisions of the RWE Group relevant to you and your benefits. It is not, and is not intended to be, a summary of every detail of the RWE Group or to cover every set of circumstances.
The RWE Group’s detailed benefit provisions are set out in its formal governing documents, the trust deed and rules. This guide summarises the benefits provided by the RWE Group and its related provisions. Whilst every effort has been made to summarise the benefits and provisions of the RWE Group accurately, if there are any differences between this guide and the trust deed and rules, the trust deed and rules (as amended from time to time) will apply and override the terms of this guide.
This guide is dated January 2025. Every effort has been made to ensure the guide is up to date and accurate at the time of writing, however, subsequent changes to the RWE Group’s governing documents, applicable legislation and/or the tax regime may consequently affect its accuracy or completeness.