In relation to a Pension Adjustment Order (PAO), contingent benefits include:

• A. retirement benefits only
• B. death-in-service and retirement benefits only
• C. death-in-service benefits only
• D. death-in-service, ill health and retirement benefits

Answer: (D)

Contingent benefits are payments that only become payable if a specific event occurs. In a Pension Adjustment Order, these benefits can be included because they depend on events after the member’s service begins. The main events are death while in service, ill health leading to retirement, and reaching retirement age. Therefore, death-in-service, ill health retirement, and retirement benefits all fall under contingent benefits. This is why the best answer includes all three categories. The other options omit one or more of these contingent payments, so they don’t fully capture what may be treated as contingent benefits under a PAO.