Death Benefits

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Chapter 20

Death Benefits

TYPES OF DEATH BENEFIT
20.1 Article 29 of the AFCS 2011 provides for the following death benefits where the death of a member or former member of the armed forces was caused by service:¹

(i) a survivor’s GIP;
(ii) a bereavement grant;
(iii) a child’s payment.

20.2 There is a discretion under article 29(3) and (4) of the AFCS 2011 to withhold death benefits if the deceased and his or her partner married or entered into a civil partnership less than 6 months before the date of death, but the circumstances in which this power would be exercised are not clear.

SURVIVOR’S GUARANTEED INCOME PAYMENT Eligibility
20.3 A survivor’s GIP is a lifetime inflation-linked tax-free benefit which is payable to a member or former member’s spouse, civil partner or surviving adult dependant.²The amount of a survivor’s GIP is not affected by periods of flexible service.³Survivor’s GIP is paid monthly in arrears.⁴

¹See para 14.19 for the conditions which have to be satisfied for death to be caused by service.

²AFCS 2011, art 29(1)(a).

³Ministry of Defence, JSP 765, Armed Forces Compensation Scheme Statement of Policy (Ministry of Defence, October 2020), para 4.17.

⁴AFCS 2011, art 65.

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180 War Pensions and Armed Forces Compensation – Law and Practice

Surviving adult dependant
20.4 For a person to be a ‘surviving adult dependant’ of a member or former member, the following conditions must have been satisfied at the date of death:⁵

(i) the parties were cohabiting as partners ‘in a substantial and exclusive relationship’;

(ii) the deceased left no surviving spouse or civil partner;
(iii) the parties were not prevented from marrying or forming a civil partnership (e.g. because the deceased’s partner was still married);⁶

(iv) the person was financially dependent on the deceased or they were financially interdependent.

‘Substantial and exclusive relationship’
20.5 Part 1 of Schedule 1 to the AFCS 2011 sets out matters which are taken into account in deciding whether a relationship was ‘substantial’, and Part 2 specifies circumstances which prevent a relationship from being treated as ‘exclusive’. Under paragraph 1 of Part 1, in considering whether the relationship between the parties was ‘substantial’, regard must be had to any evidence which the claimant considers demonstrates a substantial relationship and, in particular, examples of the types of evidence in paragraph 2 which could, either alone or together, demonstrate the existence of such a relationship. The types of evidence referred to in paragraph 2 are:

(i) evidence of regular financial support of the claimant by the deceased;
(ii) evidence of a valid will or life insurance policy, valid at the time of the deceased’s death, in which the deceased nominated the claimant as principal beneficiary or co-beneficiary with children, or the claimant nominated the deceased as the principal beneficiary;

(iii) evidence indicating that the deceased and the claimant were purchasing accommodation as joint owners or evidence of joint ownership of other valuable property, such as a car or land;

(iv) evidence of a joint savings plan or joint investments of a substantial nature;

(v) evidence that the deceased and the claimant operated a joint account for which they were co-signatories;

⁵AFCS 2011, art 30.

⁶The Court of Appeal in Langford v Secretary of State for Defence [2019] EWCA Civ 1271, [2020]

1 WLR 537 held that this provision was contrary to European Convention on Human Rights, Art 14, read with Protocol 1, Art 1, on the ground that it was manifestly without reasonable foundation.

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(vi) evidence of joint financial arrangements such as joint repayment of a loan or payment of each other’s debts;

(vii) evidence that the deceased or the claimant had given the other a power of attorney;

(viii) evidence that the names of both the deceased and the claimant appeared on a lease or rental agreement, if they lived in rented accommodation;

(ix) evidence that the deceased and the claimant shared responsibility for children;

(x) evidence of the length of the relationship.

20.6 Under paragraph 3 of Part 2 of Schedule 1 to the AFCS 2011, a relationship is not exclusive if:

(i) one or both parties is married to, or is the civil partner of, someone other than the other party to the relationship;⁷

(ii) one or both of the parties is a party to another relationship which is, or could be considered to be, a substantial and exclusive relationship on the basis of the provisions set out in para 20.5.

Amount of survivor’s Guaranteed Income Payment
20.7 The amount of a survivor’s GIP is 60% of the ‘base figure’, which is calculated by multiplying the ‘relevant salary’ by the ‘relevant factor’.⁸‘Relevant salary’...