Can I protect my pension fund used to buy my annuity if I die?

Yes, you can protect some or all of your pension fund with something called value protection.

What is value protection?

Value protection, sometimes called annuity protection, allows you to protect all or part of the fund used to buy your annuity if you die. You do this by selecting the amount of fund you want to protect. The amount paid depends on when you die and whether you’ve chosen for a beneficiary to receive your annuity payments, called a beneficiary’s annuity.

If you haven’t chosen a beneficiary’s annuity

When you die your annuity provider will add up all the income payments paid to you, before tax. If this is less than the amount of value protection you chose, your annuity provider will pay the difference as a lump sum.

If you have chosen a beneficiary’s annuity as well as value protection

When you die, your annuity provider will wait until your beneficiary also dies, before adding up all the income payments paid to both of you, before tax. If this is less than the amount of value protection you have chosen, your annuity provider will pay the difference as a lump sum.