Family pension to a disabled child

Family pension to a disabled child is the family pension payable for life, under Rule 50(9)(h) of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021, to a son or daughter of a deceased central government employee or pensioner who suffers from any disorder or disability of mind, or who is physically disabled, or who suffers from any other disability referred to in the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, so as to be unable to earn a living even after attaining the age of 25 years. It is the ordinary family pension of 30% of the pay last drawn under Rule 50(2)(a)(i), subject to a minimum of Rs. 9,000 and a maximum of Rs. 75,000 a month, plus dearness relief at 60% from 1 January 2026.

Three features separate it from every other child’s claim. It has no end date, where an ordinary son or daughter loses the family pension at 25. Marriage does not end it, under Rule 50(9)(i), where marriage ends an ordinary child’s entitlement outright under Rule 50(9)(n). And the income test is a different and far higher one: Rule 50(9)(c) measures the child against the entitled ordinary family pension plus dearness relief, not against the minimum family pension of Rs. 9,000 plus dearness relief that Rule 50(9)(b) applies to an able-bodied child. On a last pay of Rs. 80,000 that is a ceiling of Rs. 38,400 a month against Rs. 14,400.

The entitlement is not immediate. Rule 50(9)(h) opens only where the deceased is not survived by a son or daughter below 25 who is eligible, and Rule 50(9)(h)(ii) pays the children below 25 first, in order of birth, until the last of them attains 25, after which the family pension is resumed in favour of the disabled child for life. A disabled child whose youngest sibling was 10 at the parent’s death therefore waits 15 years. What the rule gives is priority over everyone who follows, not over the younger children.

This article sets out the eligibility test, the disability certificate and the Medical Board that issues it, the Rule 50(9)(c) income limit, the guardianship machinery under Section 14 of the National Trust Act, 1999, the order of entitlement, the position where there is more than one disabled child, the rate and the ceilings, the dual family pension where both parents served, the annual certificate under Rule 50(9)(p), co-authorisation in the Pension Payment Order under Rule 63(1)(e), the judicially separated parent under Rule 50(8)(i), the claim documents, the tax position under the Income-tax Act, 2025, and how the entitlement stands across the Old Pension Scheme, the Unified Pension Scheme and the National Pension System. Every figure is tied to the Gazette text of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 or to the Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare order that produced it.

Who qualifies

Rule 50(9)(h) of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 reaches a son or daughter suffering from any disorder or disability of mind including the mentally retarded, or who is physically disabled, or who suffers from any other disability referred to in the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 (49 of 2016), so as to be rendered unable to earn a living even after attaining the age of 25 years. The operative words are the last ten. The disability must actually prevent the child from earning a livelihood; reaching a benchmark disability percentage under the 2016 Act is not by itself the test, and Rule 50(9)(h)(v) requires the appointing authority to satisfy itself on that specific point before allowing the family pension for life.

Rule 50(9)(h)(i) adds a timing condition that decides a great many cases. The disability must have existed before the death of the government servant or pensioner and of the spouse. A disability that first arises after both parents have died does not attract the lifelong family pension, however severe it is. Nothing requires the disability to predate retirement, so a condition that arose after the employee retired but before the death of the survivor of the two parents qualifies.

The distinction between a disability of mind and a physical disability changes how the pension is paid, not whether it is payable. Rule 50(9)(h)(iv) directs payment through a guardian for a son or daughter suffering from a disorder or disability of mind, and expressly excepts a physically disabled son or daughter who has attained majority, who is paid directly. Both categories draw the same rate for the same duration on the same income condition.

Family pension for life

The disabled child draws the family pension for life, and that is the whole substance of Rule 50(9)(h). An ordinary son or daughter loses it at 25, on marriage, or on starting to earn a livelihood, whichever is earliest, under Rules 50(9)(e), 50(9)(n) and 50(9)(o). A disabled child is released from the first two of those and has the third replaced by the Rule 50(9)(c) income test. So long as the disability continues to prevent the child from earning a living and that income condition is met, the family pension runs until the child’s death.

Two documents keep it running, and they are different documents on different cycles. Rule 50(9)(h)(vi) requires the disability certificate to be produced once only where the disability is permanent, and once every five years where it is temporary, to the effect that the disability referred to in Rule 50(9)(h) continues. Rule 50(9)(p) separately requires a certificate to the Pension Disbursing Authority once a year that the child has not started earning a livelihood. Confusing the five-yearly medical review with the annual earning certificate is a common way for a payment to be stopped.

The rate mechanics are those of the general family pension calculation and are not special to disability: 30% of the last pay at the ordinary rate under Rule 50(2)(a)(i), 50% for the balance of any unexpired enhanced window under Rule 50(2)(a)(ii) or (iii). What is special is that the ordinary rate then continues for life rather than ending on a birthday.

The disability certificate and the Medical Board

Rule 50(9)(h)(v) of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 accepts a certificate from one of two sources. The first is an authority competent to issue a disability certificate in accordance with the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Rules, 2017, and the guidelines and notifications issued by the Central Government, a State Government or a Union territory administration. The second is a Medical Board comprising a Medical Superintendent, a Principal, a Director or the Head of the Institution, or their nominee, as Chairman, and two other members, of whom at least one must be a specialist in the particular area of disability.

The certificate must set out, as far as possible, the exact mental or physical condition of the child. That specificity is what the appointing authority uses to satisfy itself, as Rule 50(9)(h)(v) requires, that the disability is of such a nature as to prevent the child from earning a livelihood. A certificate that records a disability percentage but says nothing about earning capacity leaves the appointing authority without the finding the rule asks for.

Rule 50(9)(h)(vi) then governs the renewal, and it places the duty on either the guardian receiving the family pension or on the son or daughter receiving it without a guardian. The certificate is produced once if the disability is permanent, and once every five years if it is temporary, from the same two sources, with mental retardation named among the specialisations for the Medical Board. Where the five-yearly certificate is not produced on a temporary disability, the basis for the lifelong payment lapses.

The income limit

Rule 50(9)(c) of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 sets the income test for a disabled child, and it is a different rule from the one that applies to every other child. A child suffering from a mental or physical disability is deemed not to be earning a livelihood where their overall income from sources other than the family pension is less than the entitled family pension under Rule 50(2)(a)(i), the ordinary rate of 30% of pay, plus the dearness relief admissible on it, payable on the death of the government servant or pensioner concerned. Rule 50(9)(b) instead deems an able-bodied son or daughter to be earning a livelihood where their income from other sources is equal to or more than the minimum family pension, Rs. 9,000 a month, plus dearness relief on it.

The gap between the two tests is large and it scales with the deceased’s pay. At dearness relief of 60%, the able-bodied ceiling is Rs. 14,400 a month in every case. The disability ceiling on a last pay of Rs. 80,000 is Rs. 24,000 plus Rs. 14,400, or Rs. 38,400 a month; on a last pay of Rs. 1,50,000 it is Rs. 45,000 plus Rs. 27,000, or Rs. 72,000 a month. The Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare announced the liberalisation in Office Memorandum No. 1/17/2019-P&PW(E) dated 8 February 2021, and the Railway Board issued the counterpart as RBE No. 17/2021, before the position was carried into the 2021 Rules on 20 December 2021.

Three details decide individual cases. The ceiling is pegged to the ordinary rate under Rule 50(2)(a)(i) even while an enhanced-rate window is running, so a child drawing 50% is still tested against 30% plus dearness relief. The ceiling moves upward whenever dearness relief is revised, because the rule adds the dearness relief admissible on the figure rather than fixing a rupee amount. And Rule 50(12)(a) provides that a family pension already being drawn on the death of one government-servant parent is not counted as income when eligibility for the family pension of the other is determined, so the first pension cannot disqualify the child from the second.

Guardianship and how the pension is paid

Rule 50(9)(h)(iv) of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 directs that the family pension be paid to a son or daughter suffering from any disorder or disability of mind including the mentally retarded through the guardian, as if that person were a minor, except in the case of a physically disabled son or daughter who has attained the age of majority. A physically disabled adult of sound mind is therefore paid directly, into their own account, because the disability limits the ability to earn rather than the ability to manage the payment.

Rule 50(9)(h)(vii) fixes who the guardian is. The family pension is payable to a person nominated by the government servant or the pensioner; where no such nomination was furnished to the Head of Office during their lifetime, it is payable to the person nominated later by the spouse. The same sub-rule directs that a guardianship certificate issued under Section 14 of the National Trust Act, 1999 (44 of 1999) by a Local Level Committee be accepted for the nomination or appointment of a guardian, in respect of a person suffering from autism, cerebral palsy, mental retardation and multiple disabilities as indicated in that Act. A Local Level Committee certificate is accordingly sufficient, and a bank that insists additionally on a court-appointed guardianship certificate is asking for a document the rule does not require.

Rule 79(5) completes the machinery on the claim side: where the person eligible for family pension is a minor or is suffering from any disorder or disability of mind, the guardian may submit the claim in Form 10 on that person’s behalf. Where a guardian who has been receiving the family pension dies or is replaced, a fresh nomination or a fresh Section 14 certificate supports payment to the new guardian, and the entitlement itself is unaffected, because it belongs to the disabled child and not to the guardian.

Order of entitlement

A disabled child takes the family pension after the children below 25 and holds it for life, ahead of every claimant who follows. Rule 50(9)(h) of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 opens the entitlement only where the deceased is not survived by a son or daughter below 25 who is eligible for family pension, or where such a son or daughter has died or has ceased to be eligible. Rule 50(9)(h)(ii) states the sequence where the disabled child is one among two or more children: the family pension is initially payable to the children below 25 in the order set out in Rule 50(9)(d), until the last child attains 25, and is thereafter resumed in favour of the disabled child for life.

Below the younger children, the disabled child outranks everyone. Rule 50(9)(j) makes the family pension payable to an unmarried, widowed or divorced daughter beyond 25 only where no son or daughter is eligible under Rule 50(9)(d) or Rule 50(9)(h), and Rule 50(9)(j)(ii) states expressly that there must be no eligible disabled child. Rule 50(10)(a) reaches the dependent parents only where no widow, widower or child is eligible, and Rule 50(11)(a) reaches the dependent disabled siblings only where no widow, widower, child or parent is eligible.

The practical effect of position 3 is a gap, not an exclusion. Where a disabled child has a sibling aged 10 at the parent’s death, the family pension runs to that sibling for 15 years and reaches the disabled child on the sibling’s 25th birthday, after which it continues for the disabled child’s life. Rule 50(11)(b) then applies the same conditions and the same disability criteria to a dependent disabled sibling as Rules 50(9)(h) and 50(9)(i) apply to a disabled child, with the added proviso that the sibling’s disability existed before the death.

Marriage and the age of 25

Rule 50(9)(i) of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 provides that marriage by a child suffering from a disability referred to in Rule 50(9)(h) does not render that child ineligible for family pension. The provision is unqualified. It does not distinguish between a marriage before the disability arose and one after, and it does not distinguish a son from a daughter. Rule 50(9)(n), which makes an unmarried son or an unmarried, widowed or divorced daughter ineligible from the date of marriage or remarriage, carries the words “except a disabled son or daughter” on its face.

The age of 25 falls away for the same claimant. Rule 50(9)(h) makes the family pension payable for life to a child unable to earn a living even after attaining the age of 25, so the birthday that ends an ordinary child’s entitlement is the point from which the disabled child’s lifelong entitlement is measured rather than a cut-off. Rule 50(9)(o), which stops the family pension where a son or daughter starts earning a livelihood, still applies, but Rule 50(9)(c) decides what earning means for this claimant, and the threshold it sets is the entitled ordinary family pension plus dearness relief.

More than one disabled child

Rule 50(9)(h)(iii) of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 pays two or more disabled children one at a time, in the order of their birth, and the younger gets the family pension only after the elder next above them ceases to be eligible or dies. The family pension is not divided between them and it is not paid to them concurrently. A proviso directs that where the family pension is payable to such twin children it be paid in the manner set out in Rule 50(9)(d).

Because the entitlement is for life, the ordinary outcome is that the elder disabled child draws the family pension until death and the younger then takes it for the rest of their own life. The income condition in Rule 50(9)(c) and the certificate under Rule 50(9)(h)(v) are tested against whichever disabled child is drawing at the time, so a younger disabled child who would independently qualify has no claim while the elder remains eligible.

Rate, floor, ceiling and dearness relief

The family pension to a disabled child is 30% of the pay last drawn by the deceased, subject to a minimum of Rs. 9,000 and a maximum of Rs. 75,000 a month, under Rule 50(2)(a)(i) of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021, plus dearness relief. Dearness relief stands at 60% with effect from 1 January 2026, under Department of Expenditure Office Memorandum F. No. 1/1(i)/2026-E.II(B) dated 22 April 2026, and it is calculated on the basic family pension, not on the pay. Explanation 1 to Rule 50(2) defines pay for this purpose as emoluments under Rule 31 or average emoluments under Rule 32, whichever is more.

Where an enhanced-rate window is still running when the disabled child takes the family pension, the child draws it for the balance. Rule 50(2)(a)(ii) sets the enhanced rate at 50% of pay for 10 years from the day following the date of death where the employee died in service. Rule 50(2)(a)(iii) sets it at 50% for seven years, or until the date the deceased would have attained 67, whichever is less, where death followed retirement, capped at the pension authorised on retirement and floored at the ordinary family pension. Rule 50(2)(a)(iv) subjects the enhanced rate to a minimum of Rs. 9,000 and a maximum of Rs. 1,25,000 a month. The full mechanics are in the enhanced family pension article.

The minimum and maximum pension figures are the 7th Central Pay Commission ones and they bind the disabled child’s family pension in the same way as any other. A last pay of Rs. 30,000 produces an ordinary family pension of Rs. 9,000, which is the floor rather than the computed 30%; a last pay of Rs. 2,50,000, the highest pay in government, produces exactly Rs. 75,000.

Dual family pension where both parents served

Rule 50(13) of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 grants two family pensions to the surviving child where both wife and husband were government servants governed by Rule 50 and both have died, and it imposes three combined ceilings rather than one. Rule 50(13)(i) limits both pensions together to Rs. 1,25,000 a month where the child is eligible to draw both at the enhanced rate under Rule 50(2)(a)(ii) or (iii). Rule 50(13)(ii) keeps the same Rs. 1,25,000 limit where one of the two has ceased to be payable at the enhanced rate and the ordinary rate under Rule 50(2)(a)(i) has become payable in its place. Rule 50(13)(iii) limits them to Rs. 75,000 a month where both are at the ordinary rate.

The middle case is the one most often stated wrongly, because the combined ceiling does not fall to Rs. 75,000 the moment one enhanced window expires. It stays at Rs. 1,25,000 for as long as the other pension remains at the enhanced rate.

Rule 50(12)(a) is what makes the second pension reachable at all for a disabled child. It provides that a family pension admissible on the death of one government servant or pensioner is not to be considered as income for the purpose of determining eligibility for a family pension on the death of another, subject to the sum of both staying within the Rule 50(13) limits. Without that provision the first family pension would exceed the Rule 50(9)(c) income ceiling in almost every case and would extinguish the claim to the second. Rules 50(12)(c), 50(12)(d) and 50(14) then require the claimant to disclose the other family pension in Form 10 and require the Head of Office to hold the total within the ceiling. The dual family pension article covers the wider provision.

The annual certificate and continued eligibility

Rule 50(9)(p) of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 makes it the duty of the son or daughter, or of the guardian, to furnish a certificate to the Pension Disbursing Authority once in a year. For a son or daughter suffering from a mental or physical disability the certificate is that they have not started earning a livelihood. The second limb of Rule 50(9)(p), the certificate of not having married or remarried, is what an able-bodied son or daughter furnishes; it has no application to a disabled child, because Rule 50(9)(i) makes marriage irrelevant to that claimant’s entitlement.

The annual certificate and the disability certificate are separate obligations on separate cycles, and both are conditions of continued payment. The annual certificate under Rule 50(9)(p) goes to the Pension Disbursing Authority, ordinarily the paying bank, and answers the earning question against the Rule 50(9)(c) threshold. The disability certificate under Rule 50(9)(h)(vi) is produced once for a permanent disability and once in every five years for a temporary one, and answers whether the disabling condition continues. A disabled child whose other income later crosses the Rule 50(9)(c) ceiling is deemed to be earning a livelihood and the family pension is stopped under Rule 50(9)(o); where the income falls back below the ceiling the eligibility condition is again satisfied.

Co-authorisation in the Pension Payment Order

A permanently disabled child can be named in the Pension Payment Order in advance, and where the name is there the family pension starts within one month of the claim. Rule 63(1)(e) of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 directs the Accounts Officer to indicate in the Pension Payment Order the names of the permanently disabled child or children, the dependent parents and the disabled siblings as family pensioners, with one condition: only where there is no other member of the family to whom family pension may become payable before them. A disabled child who ranks behind a surviving spouse or children below 25 is therefore not named at the employee’s own retirement.

Rule 79(2)(a)(iv) covers that case. Where the deceased pensioner is survived by a spouse and by permanently disabled children, dependent parents or disabled siblings whose names had not previously been included, the Accounts Officer includes their names in the Pension Payment Order on a written communication from the Head of Office, made on a request by the spouse of the deceased pensioner in Form 8. Rule 79(2)(b)(ii) imposes the same duty on the Head of Office when sanctioning family pension to a member of the family under Rule 79(2)(b)(i), again subject to there being no member who ranks ahead of them.

Once the name is in the order, two provisions give the one-month timeline. Rule 79(2)(a)(iii) requires the Pension Disbursing Authority to commence disbursement to a permanently disabled child named in the Pension Payment Order within one month of receiving a claim in Form 12, a copy of the death certificate and an undertaking to the bank in Format 9. Rule 79(2)(a)(v) applies the same one-month rule on the death or ineligibility of the family pensioner who was drawing before, which is the ordinary route by which a disabled child begins to draw after a surviving parent dies. The PPO and the annual life certificate article covers the document itself.

Where the parents were judicially separated

Rule 50(8)(i) of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 pays the family pension to the surviving judicially separated widow or widower where the deceased left behind a minor child, or a child suffering from a disorder or disability of mind including the mentally retarded, provided that survivor is the guardian of the child. Where the surviving person ceases to be the guardian, the family pension becomes payable to the person who is the actual guardian. This is the one place in Rule 50 where the child’s disability decides which adult draws, and it is the reason a judicially separated spouse who would otherwise be passed over under Rule 50(8)(h) is paid.

The proviso to Rule 50(8)(i) governs what happens next for a minor child, directing that the family pension become payable to the child from the date of attaining majority where the child remains eligible, and reverting to the surviving judicially separated spouse once the child ceases to be eligible. A disabled child never ceases to be eligible on age, so on the ordinary reading the reversion contemplated by that proviso does not arise while the disabled child lives, and payment continues to whoever is the actual guardian at the time. The rule does not spell that consequence out, and a family in this position should have the Head of Office record the guardianship position in the sanction rather than rely on the bank to work it out.

Claiming the family pension

The claim is made in Form 10, or in Form 12 where the disabled child is already named in the Pension Payment Order, and Rule 79(5) of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 lets the guardian submit the Form 10 claim on behalf of a person suffering from a disorder or disability of mind. Rule 79(2)(a)(iii) sets the accompanying documents for a named claimant: a copy of the death certificate and an undertaking to the bank in Format 9. Rule 79(2)(b)(i) requires the Head of Office to sanction the family pension in Format 13 within one month of receiving a Form 10 claim where the Pension Payment Order does not carry the name.

Two documents are specific to this claim. The disability certificate under Rule 50(9)(h)(v), from an authority competent under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 or from the Medical Board that rule describes, establishes that the disability prevents the child from earning a livelihood. For a child with autism, cerebral palsy, mental retardation or multiple disabilities, the Section 14 guardianship certificate issued by a Local Level Committee under the National Trust Act, 1999 establishes who receives the payment, under Rule 50(9)(h)(vii).

Income proof is the third requirement and it is easily missed. Rule 50(12)(b)(i) requires a member of the family other than the widow or widower to submit, along with the claim, a copy of the last Income Tax Return filed with the Income Tax Department. Rule 50(12)(b)(ii) accepts a certificate of income from a sub-divisional magistrate where the claimant states that no return has been filed. Central civil cases run on the Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare online system, Bhavishya, and where a case cannot be settled at once a provisional pension bridges the delay.

Worked examples

The family pension to a disabled child is 30% of the last pay for life under Rule 50(2)(a)(i), plus dearness relief at 60% from 1 January 2026, with 50% for the balance of any unexpired enhanced window. Each example below states the Rule 50(9)(c) income ceiling alongside the pension, because the two move together.

A pensioner who retired on a last basic pay of Rs. 90,000 dies, leaving a disabled son certified under Rule 50(9)(h)(v) as unable to earn a living, with no other eligible family member. The son draws Rs. 27,000 a month as the ordinary family pension, plus dearness relief of Rs. 16,200, a total of Rs. 43,200 a month for life, paid through a guardian under Rule 50(9)(h)(iv). His Rule 50(9)(c) ceiling is the same Rs. 43,200, so income from other sources must stay below that figure.

An employee dies in service on a last basic pay of Rs. 80,000, leaving a disabled daughter. She draws the enhanced rate of 50% under Rule 50(2)(a)(ii), Rs. 40,000 a month plus dearness relief of Rs. 24,000, for the balance of the 10-year window from the day following the death, then Rs. 24,000 plus Rs. 14,400 for the rest of her life. Her income ceiling is Rs. 38,400 throughout, because Rule 50(9)(c) is pegged to the ordinary rate under Rule 50(2)(a)(i) and does not rise during the enhanced window.

A disabled child of two government servants, a father who drew Rs. 1,00,000 and a mother who drew Rs. 70,000, both since deceased, draws two family pensions under Rule 50(13). At the ordinary rate that is Rs. 30,000 plus Rs. 21,000, a total of Rs. 51,000 a month, within the Rule 50(13)(iii) combined ceiling of Rs. 75,000, with dearness relief on each. Rule 50(12)(a) keeps the first family pension out of the income computation for the second.

A disabled child aged 30 has a sibling aged 12 at the parent’s death. Rule 50(9)(h)(ii) pays the sibling first, in the order set out in Rule 50(9)(d), until the sibling attains 25, and the family pension is resumed in favour of the disabled child 13 years later, then continues for life. The wider framework is in the central government pension hub and the pension calculation article.

Tax treatment

The family pension to a disabled child is taxed as income from other sources in the hands of the disabled child, even where a guardian receives it, because the recipient never held the office. For the financial year 2026-27 the governing statute is the Income-tax Act, 2025 (Act No. 30 of 2025), which took effect on 1 April 2026 and repealed the Income-tax Act, 1961. Section 93(1)(d) allows a deduction of one-third of the family pension or Rs. 25,000, whichever is less, where tax is computed under the new regime in Section 202(1), and one-third or Rs. 15,000, whichever is less, under the old regime. There is no standard deduction, because that provision attaches to salary and a family pension is not salary.

Two disability deductions sit outside the family pension itself and are worth more than the pension deduction in many cases. Section 154 of the 2025 Act, which replaced Section 80U of the repealed Income-tax Act, 1961, allows a deduction to a person with a disability. Section 127, which replaced Section 80DD, allows one to a family member who maintains a dependant with a disability. Both sit in Chapter VIII and are unavailable to anyone taxed under the Section 202 regime, so a family caring for a disabled dependant should compute the position both ways before defaulting into the new regime. The deductions allowed in the new tax regime article maps the old section numbers to the new ones, and income tax for pensioners covers the family’s wider position, including the tax-free death gratuity.

Position under the three pension schemes

The lifelong entitlement of a disabled child is a creature of Rule 50 of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021, so it applies in full to a family under the Old Pension Scheme and applies to a National Pension System family only where the employee elected it. Rule 10 of the CCS (Implementation of the National Pension System) Rules, 2021 gives the employee a choice, exercised in Form 1 at joining, between an assured family pension under the CCS pension rules and the benefits of the accumulated corpus. Where the CCS route applies, Rule 50(9)(h) applies with it. Where no option was filed, the default is the family pension for the first 15 years of service and the National Pension System benefit thereafter, and the Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare Office Memorandum dated 26 October 2022 set out how the Form 1 options are exercised. The option belongs to the employee and the family cannot make it after the death.

The Unified Pension Scheme has no counterpart provision for a disabled child. Regulation 16(1) of the PFRDA (Operationalisation of Unified Pension Scheme under National Pension System) Regulations, 2025, notified on 19 March 2025, gives the legally wedded spouse a family payout of 60% of the admissible payout the pensioner was drawing immediately before the death, for life, with dearness relief on top. It names no other family member, so a family with a disabled child should establish which scheme and which option govern before assuming the lifelong entitlement is available. The NPS vs OPS vs UPS comparison sets out what attaches to each.

The wider disability framework

The family pension to a disabled child draws its definition from one statute and its guardianship machinery from another. The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 supplies the definition of disability and the certifying authorities that Rule 50(9)(h)(v) accepts, together with the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Rules, 2017. The National Trust Act, 1999 supplies the Local Level Committees whose Section 14 guardianship certificates Rule 50(9)(h)(vii) directs be accepted, for autism, cerebral palsy, mental retardation and multiple disabilities.

Three other entitlements touch a family with a disabled member and are distinct from this one. The special allowance for child care for women with disabilities is paid to a serving employee, not to a survivor. The constant attendant allowance attaches to a disability pension drawn by the employee for their own disability, not to a family pension. And CGHS covers a dependant with a disability without an age bar, on a disability certificate, which matters because the family pension and the medical cover are assessed separately and a decision on one does not settle the other.

Bearing on the 8th Central Pay Commission

The rate and conditions of the family pension to a disabled child are fixed by Rule 50 of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 as a percentage of pay, so a pay commission does not change them directly; what a pay revision changes is the pay the 30% applies to, and the rupee floor and ceiling. The 8th Central Pay Commission was constituted by Ministry of Finance, Department of Expenditure Resolution F. No. 01-01/2025-E.III(A) dated 3 November 2025, and its recommendations will reach the family-pension floor of Rs. 9,000 and ceiling of Rs. 75,000, and through them the Rule 50(9)(c) income ceiling, which is defined by reference to the entitled family pension rather than as a fixed sum.

Until the Commission reports and revised rules are notified, the family pension to a disabled child is 30% of the last pay for life, with 50% for any unexpired enhanced window, subject to the Rs. 9,000 floor and the Rs. 75,000 ceiling, plus dearness relief at 60% from 1 January 2026. No revised rate, floor, ceiling or income limit has been notified, and any 8th Central Pay Commission figure quoted for these is a projection.

Related Articles

• Family pension
• Family pension calculation
• Enhanced family pension
• Death gratuity
• Central government pension
• Central government pension calculation
• Dual family pension
• Family pension to a divorced and widowed daughter
• Family pension to dependent parents
• Minimum and maximum pension
• Provisional pension
• Bhavishya
• Pension Payment Order
• National Trust Act, 1999
• Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016
• Disability pension
• Constant attendant allowance
• Special allowance for child care for women with disabilities
• CGHS for pensioners
• CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021
• Dearness relief
• Additional pension in old age
• Pay matrix
• Income tax for pensioners
• Deductions allowed in the new tax regime
• PPO and life certificate
• Old Pension Scheme
• Unified Pension Scheme
• National Pension System
• NPS vs OPS vs UPS
• Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare
• 8th Central Pay Commission

External references

• Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare
• CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021, full text
• Pensioners’ Portal
• The National Trust
• Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities
• Central Pension Accounting Office
• Income Tax Department

References

1. Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 2021, notified as G.S.R. 868(E) on 20 December 2021, Rule 50: sub-rule (2)(a)(i) to (iv) (ordinary and enhanced rates, floors and ceilings, and Explanation 1 on pay), sub-rule (8)(i) (judicially separated spouse as guardian of a child with a disability of mind), sub-rule (9)(b) and (9)(c) (the two income tests), sub-rule (9)(d) and (9)(e) (children below 25 in order of birth), sub-rule (9)(h) with conditions (i) to (vii) (the lifelong entitlement, the timing of the disability, the sequence after the younger children, more than one disabled child, payment through a guardian, the disability certificate and its renewal, and the National Trust Act nomination), sub-rule (9)(i) (marriage), sub-rule (9)(j) (unmarried, widowed and divorced daughters), sub-rule (9)(n), (9)(o) and (9)(p) (marriage, earning and the annual certificate), sub-rule (10) (dependent parents), sub-rule (11) (dependent disabled siblings), sub-rule (12)(a) and (12)(b) (a second family pension not counted as income, and income proof), and sub-rule (13)(i) to (iii) (the three combined ceilings on two family pensions).
2. Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 2021, Rule 63(1)(e) (names of a permanently disabled child, dependent parents and disabled siblings in the Pension Payment Order), Rule 79(2)(a)(iii), (iv) and (v) (commencement within one month on Form 12, addition of names on a Form 8 request, and commencement on the death or ineligibility of the earlier family pensioner), Rule 79(2)(b)(i) and (ii) (sanction in Format 13 on a Form 10 claim and inclusion of names), and Rule 79(5) (a guardian’s claim in Form 10).
3. Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare Office Memorandum No. 1/17/2019-P&PW(E) dated 8 February 2021, amending the income criteria for grant of family pension to children and siblings suffering from a mental or physical disability, from the minimum family pension to the entitled family pension at the ordinary rate of 30% of the last pay plus dearness relief. The Railway Board counterpart is RBE No. 17/2021.
4. National Trust for the Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities Act, 1999 (44 of 1999), Section 14, on the appointment of legal guardians by the Local Level Committees.
5. Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 (49 of 2016), and the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Rules, 2017, for the definition of disability and the authorities competent to issue a disability certificate.
6. Department of Expenditure Office Memorandum F. No. 1/1(i)/2026-E.II(B) dated 22 April 2026, revising dearness relief to central government pensioners and family pensioners to 60% with effect from 1 January 2026.
7. Income-tax Act, 2025 (Act No. 30 of 2025), Section 93(1)(d) (the family pension deduction), Section 202(1) (the new regime), Section 127 (maintenance and medical treatment of a dependant with a disability, replacing Section 80DD of the repealed Income-tax Act, 1961) and Section 154 (a person with a disability, replacing Section 80U).
8. Central Civil Services (Implementation of the National Pension System) Rules, 2021, Rule 10 (the Form 1 option between the CCS family pension and the accumulated corpus), read with the Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare Office Memorandum dated 26 October 2022.
9. PFRDA (Operationalisation of Unified Pension Scheme under National Pension System) Regulations, 2025, notified 19 March 2025, regulation 16 (family payout of 60% of the admissible payout to the legally wedded spouse) and regulation 17 (dearness relief).
10. Ministry of Finance, Department of Expenditure, Resolution F. No. 01-01/2025-E.III(A), dated 3 November 2025, constituting the 8th Central Pay Commission.