Family pension calculator

This calculator works out the family pension payable to the family of a central government employee or pensioner under Rule 50 of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021. It shows the enhanced rate of 50 per cent for its limited period, the ordinary rate of 30 per cent that follows for life, the old-age additional pension, and dearness relief, so the family can see both what arrives in the first years and what continues afterwards.

Calculator

How the family pension plays out

What the calculator computes

Family pension is the pension paid to the family after the death of a serving employee or a pensioner. Rule 50 sets two rates: an ordinary rate of 30 per cent of the last pay, and an enhanced rate of 50 per cent that is paid first, for a limited period, to cushion the family in the years right after the loss.

The calculator takes the last basic pay, works out both rates, applies the floor and the ceilings, and then applies the enhanced period that fits the case. On a death in service the enhanced rate runs for 10 years with no age limit. On a death after retirement it runs for 7 years, or until the date the pensioner would have turned 67, whichever comes first, and it is capped at the pension the retiree was actually drawing. After the enhanced period the family pension steps down to the ordinary 30 per cent, which continues for life. The old-age additional pension and dearness relief are added to each phase.

The formula

The two base figures come straight from the last pay:

Enhanced family pension = 50 per cent of last basic pay

Ordinary family pension = 30 per cent of last basic pay

Each is rounded up to the next higher rupee, then held to a floor of Rs. 9,000 and a ceiling of Rs. 1,25,000 for the enhanced rate and Rs. 75,000 for the ordinary rate. On a death after retirement the enhanced figure is also capped at the pension the deceased was drawing.

The enhanced period is fixed by the case:

• Death in service: 10 years from the date of death, with no age limit.
• Death after retirement: the earlier of 7 years, or the date the pensioner would have attained age 67. If the pensioner was already 67 or older at death, no enhanced period applies and the ordinary rate runs from the start.

On top of the basic figure, the old-age additional family pension is added by the family pensioner’s age: 20 per cent of the basic from 80, 30 per cent from 85, 40 per cent from 90, 50 per cent from 95, and 100 per cent from 100. Dearness relief, 60 per cent from 1 January 2026, is then applied to the basic plus the additional pension to give the amount in hand.

A worked example

Take an employee who dies in service on a last basic pay of Rs. 1,00,000 a month, with a surviving spouse below 80, and dearness relief at 60 per cent.

The enhanced family pension is 50 per cent of Rs. 1,00,000, which is Rs. 50,000. With dearness relief at 60 per cent, that is Rs. 50,000 plus Rs. 30,000, so Rs. 80,000 a month in hand. This runs for 10 years.

The ordinary family pension is 30 per cent of Rs. 1,00,000, which is Rs. 30,000. With dearness relief it is Rs. 30,000 plus Rs. 18,000, so Rs. 48,000 a month in hand. This is what continues from the eleventh year onward, for life, and it rises as dearness relief is revised.

Had the same person died after retirement at age 62 while drawing a pension of Rs. 50,000, the enhanced rate would still be Rs. 50,000 (it does not exceed the pension drawn), but it would run for 5 years, being the earlier of 7 years and the gap to age 67, before stepping down to the ordinary Rs. 30,000 basic.

Notes and scope

The calculator covers the ordinary and enhanced rates, the enhanced period for both scenarios, the old-age additional pension, and dearness relief. It does not model the order of entitlement among family members, the rules for an unmarried, widowed, or divorced daughter, a disabled child drawing for life, or two family pensions for a child orphaned of two government-servant parents. Those are set out in the family pension article. The figure is the family pension itself; family pension is taxed as income from other sources, not as salary, with a separate standard deduction under Section 57.

One point the calculator builds in is worth stating plainly: for a death in service, the enhanced rate is now payable regardless of the length of service. The old condition, that the employee must have completed at least seven years of continuous service before the enhanced rate could be paid, was removed with effect from 1 October 2019 and carried into the 2021 Rules. A death early in a career therefore still attracts the full 10-year enhanced period. The seven-year figure that appears in this calculator is the enhanced period after retirement, not a service condition.

Family pension applies across the pension schemes in its own form. Under the Old Pension Scheme it is the Rule 50 figure here. Under the National Pension System a family can take the assured family payout in place of the accumulated corpus, and the Unified Pension Scheme carries its own family payout of 60 per cent of the assured payout. For those, see the pension calculation and scheme articles.

See also

• Family pension
• Rule 44 pension calculator
• Pension calculation
• Central government pension
• Old Pension Scheme
• Commutation of pension calculator
• Commutation of pension
• Gratuity calculator
• Gratuity for central government employees
• National Pension System
• Unified Pension Scheme
• Dearness relief
• 7th Central Pay Commission
• Pay matrix
• Income tax for government employees
• Central government employees in India

External references

• Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare
• Pensioners’ Portal
• Central Pension Accounting Office
• Department of Expenditure