A survivor’s benefit is paid to the surviving dependants of a national pension scheme contributor or pensioner who has died.
Normally this benefit is paid to the surviving spouse and dependent children. Dependent children are those that are under the age of 18 or, if still in full-time education, under the age of 25 or permanently disabled who, regardless of age, are incapable of supporting themselves.
The children’s benefit is a single amount to cover all dependent children. It is the same in value as the benefit paid to the spouse.
The spouse is entitled to a survivor’s benefit that is 40 percent of what the contributor, based on the contribution period and monthly insurable earnings, would have been entitled to as a retirement pension.
The dependent children’s allowance is also 40 percent of what the contributor would have been entitled to.
That means the surviving family receives 80 percent of what the contributor would have been entitled to based on the contribution period and insurable earnings at the time of death.
The minimum survivor’s pension is $30 for the spouse and $30 for the children, making $60 for the family as a whole, the same as the minimum retirement pension.
What happens if there is more than one spouse?
The benefit is shared equally between the spouses.
What happens if there are dependent children with different mothers?
Once again the same children’s allowance is divided between the children.
Someone wrote in recently asking whether the children of a contributor who dies were not entitled to some money.
This person had gone to a NSSA office to make a claim but was told he was not entitled to anything. To be entitled to a benefit the children of a contributor who has died must have been dependent on the deceased.
If they are no longer minor children, that are under the age of 18, they are not entitled to anything, unless they are still in full time education. Even then that only applies if they are under the age of 25. The only exception is a child who is unable to be self-supporting due to a disability.
The amount payable for surviving dependent children has to be shared between them, no matter how many they may be and whether or not they are living in the same household.
Whether the survivor’s benefit is a pension or grant depends on the contribution period. It must be at least 10 years to entitle the surviving dependants to a pension.
If a pension is payable and there are dependent children but there is no surviving spouse, then the children receive a pension that is 80 percent of what the contributor would have been entitled to.
In other words they receive the same as the surviving family as a whole would have received if there had been a surviving parent.
If both deceased parents were contributors to the pension scheme, then they are entitled to 80 percent from the first parent and 40 percent from the second parent.
The children’s allowance covers all dependent children. So long as there is at least one dependent child, the allowance will continue to be paid.
However, when there is no longer a child under the age of 18 or above 18 but below the age of 25 and in full time education, then the children’s allowance stops, unless there is a permanently disabled child incapable of supporting himself or herself.
The allowance would normally be paid to the children’s guardian, unless one of the dependent children is already an adult.
What happens if a contributor dies without leaving any spouse or any dependent children?
The survivor’s benefit would then be payable to the contributor’s parents, if they were dependent on him or her or to any other genuine dependent registered as such with NSSA.
Adult children no longer in full time education are not entitled to any benefit from NSSA. The survivor’s benefit is meant to assist the dependants of the contributor who died. That does not include adult children who are capable of supporting themselves financially.
Apart from the survivor’s benefit, a funeral grant is payable by NSSA to the person responsible for the funeral of a deceased contributor or pensioner. A text message was received from another correspondent who asked what happens if a father who was working but not registered with NSSA dies.
If he is not registered with NSSA, then there will be no pension scheme benefit payable to anyone. The national pension scheme administered by NSSA is a contributory pension scheme. Benefits are only paid to those who contribute to the scheme or, if they die, their dependants.
All formal employment sector employees and their employers are legally obliged to be registered with NSSA and contribute monthly to the national pension scheme. Only those who contribute to the scheme and their dependants can benefit from it.
However, if a person is not registered with NSSA but dies in a work-related accident, then, presuming the employer is fulfilling his legal obligation to pay Workers’ Compensation Insurance Fund premiums to NSSA, a Workers’ Compensation pension would be payable to the spouse or spouses and an allowance would be payable to children up to the age of 19.
In this case the pension only remains payable if the spouse does not remarry. If the spouse remarries then a lump sum equivalent to 24 months pension is paid and the pension is terminated. The children, however, still receive their allowances.
Talking Social Security is published weekly by the National Social Security Authority as a public service. There is also a weekly radio programme on social security, PaMheponeNssa/Emoyeni le NSSA, at 6.50pm every Thursday on Radio Zimbabwe and Friday on National FM. Readers can e-mail issues they would like dealt with in this column to mail@mhpr.co.zw or text them to 0772-307913. Those with individual queries should contact their local NSSA office or telephone NSSA on (04) 706523/5, 706545/9, or 799030/1.