Calculating and Paying a Pension Bonus Bereavement Payment

Step

Action

1

Check that claim is lodged:

• by surviving partner of a member of the PBS,
• on a form approved by the Commission, DVA Form D9127 Application for payment of Pension Bonus Bereavement Payment and
• within 26 weeks of date of death, unless special circumstances exist.    
  More →

  Policy Library – Death of a Member of the Scheme

  5.6.11/Impact on Claim and Payment of Bonus

  More → (go back)

2

Ensure that the deceased partner was a registered member of the scheme. The file should contain a Registration Determination as confirmation. The deceased partner must have registered, or lodged an application to register, prior to death.

Note: Backdated registration will not be considered for a deceased person.

3

Calculate the overall qualifying period of the deceased partner's membership of the scheme using the PBS Membership Worksheet.     

4

Create a hypothetical [What If] query to obtain the rate used to calculate the bonus:

• access PIPS, from the main menu, access the [Tools] sub menu and select [What If] option from the drop down list,
• main menu for [What If] is displayed,
• to create a [What If] query click on the [? Hypo] button, or
• access the file sub menu and select [? Hypothetical] option from the drop down list.

5

Using the details from the claim form, record the details of the deceased member as they were, immediately prior to death:

• select from the options [Pension Type], [Marital Status] and [Residential Situation] as they applied,
• record the effective date as the day immediately before date of death,
• select from the list of scenarios which match those of the deceased PBS member, e.g. SSA Age Married clients, homeowner, and
• click on [Create Query] button located on the bottom right hand corner of the screen.

Note: The marital status must be either married, partnered, or illness separated. A bereavement bonus is not payable to the Estate of a single person, or to the non-illness separated partner of a member.     

6

A new screen is displayed with details of the assessment in the banner of the screen, select and edit from buttons on the left hand of the screen as required:

• [Adult Details], to update details of illness separation, blindness, or remote area allowance,
• [Residential],
• [Children],
• [Income Assets], record details of combined income and assets, except income from employment by either member of the couple,
• [DP], record details of DP paid to either partner immediately before death, click on the [+] button to the right of screen to activate the folder for editing,
• click on the [Summary] button to contract the screen and check that the details, as summarised, are correct, and
• click on the [Calculate] button to the top right of screen, to obtain a rate.

7

Click the [Word] button to generate a document with all the details of the assessment. The document will appear minimised at the bottom of your computer screen. Print document and attach to file, as this is evidence of the rate calculations.

8

Generate letter to advise of decision to pay or reject, access Standard Letter system folder [Pension Bonus], file:

• [PBBP Paid], or
• [PBBP Reject].

9

Access the procedures for calculating the bonus via this link.     

Note: DFISA bonus bereavement payment is payable to partners of AP members and is calculated in the same way as for a DFISA bonus payment, using the circumstances which applied immediately prior to the date of death of the member.