Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department plans to bring forward legislative proposals to grant unmarried couples the same automatic right to benefit from their partner’s pension in the event of the death of their partner as exists for married couples.

Members of defined contribution schemes are normally able to nominate a beneficiary through an expression of wish form who may be a spouse, an unmarried partner or any other person. Trustees have discretion, but will generally give very significant weight to the member’s expressed wish. Where a member purchases an annuity, they nominate a beneficiary at the point of purchase for any survivor’s pension to which the contract entitles them.

Spouses of defined benefit occupational pension scheme members do not automatically receive benefits when the member dies. There are no statutory requirements for these schemes to provide a survivor or a nominated beneficiary benefits unless the scheme was contracted out of the additional State Pension, where the scheme provided a pension in place of the additional State Pension.

Contracted out schemes must provide a survivor’s Guaranteed Minimum Pension for certain widows, widowers and surviving civil partners, reflecting the provisions in the additional State Pension. Any survivor benefits beyond this are a matter for the scheme rules and the sponsoring employer subject to HMRC tax restrictions. Some schemes may choose to provide survivor benefits for those who are not in a legal partnership, but they are not required to.

There are no plans to extend these requirements beyond the surviving partner of a legal relationship.