Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many families of deceased civil servants received death in service benefits in each of the last six years.

Civil servants are eligible to be a member of either the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme (PCSPS) or the Public Service (Civil Servants and Others) Pension Scheme (CSOPS) subject to when they joined the Civil Service. Depending on which scheme they are in, a lump sum death benefit of either two or three times the civil servant’s final pay is payable on their death in service, plus a pension to a surviving spouse or civil partner and any eligible children. Details of the benefits payable are in the rules of the schemes which are available at http://www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk/about-us/scheme-rules

The lump sum payable on death in service is payable to whoever the scheme member has nominated to receive it (this can be an individual or a corporate body such as a charity). The number of death benefit lump sums paid in each of the last 6 years is as follows:

Scheme Year Number of death in service cases

2010/2011 1195

2011/2012 1119

2012/2013 1007

2013/2014 904

2014/2015 664

2015/2016 447