If you are still paying into the Scheme when you die, the benefits payable from the Scheme will depend on whether you are a Primark employee or a non-Primark employee.
If you are a non-Primark employee, a lump sum equal to four times your Pensionable Earnings plus the value of your pension account will be payable. Part of the lump sum may be used to secure a pension for your spouse, civil partner and/or dependant(s). In respect of members who joined on or after 1 September 2012, payment of the earnings-related lump sum is subject to provision of satisfactory medical evidence of health.
If you are a Primark employee, only the balance of your pension account is payable. From 13 September 2026, your death in service cover is provided directly by Primark through the Primark Group Life Assurance plan. For more details of your cover, please contact Primark directly.
The benefits payable on your death in retirement will depend on the choices you made when you retired as to how you wanted to use your Pension Account. If you purchased an annuity that made provision for a spouse’s, civil partner's or dependant's pension on your death, this will now become payable. Any benefits would be payable by the insurance company from which you purchased your pension; no benefits would be payable from the ABF Pension Scheme.
If you took your benefits as a one-off lump sum, or transferred them to another arrangement to take flexible benefits, there would be no further benefits payable from the Scheme.
If you die after leaving the Scheme but before starting to receive a pension from your Pension Account, your Pension Account will be used to pay a lump sum. If you die before age 75 and the total lump sum exceeds your available lump sum and death benefit allowance then any excess over the allowance may be used to secure a pension for your spouse, civil partner and/or dependant(s). If there is no spouse, civil partner or dependants, the excess would be subject to income tax at the beneficiary’s marginal rate.
The Lump Sum and Death Benefit Allowance (LSDBA)
Death benefits payable through the Scheme will count towards your Lump Sum and Death Benefit Allowance (LSDBA). If you exceed this limit, your beneficiaries may be required to pay tax on the excess.
We will advise your personal representatives of the amount of LSDBA used when paying out death benefits from the Scheme. While most people won’t be affected by this limit, it is the responsibility of the Legal Personal Representatives to work out if the limit has been exceeded and report it to HMRC.
More information about pension tax limits can be found here.
Tax rules on death benefits are changing
From 6 April 2027, most pension death benefits will be included in the value of an estate for inheritance tax purposes, although the death-in-service lump sum will continue to be exempt. Read the full news story here.