Tell us about the death of a member

Relatives of, or those close to the member, might be entitled to a pension and / or a cash lump sum if they were:

• Married to, or in a civil partnership with, a member of the Fund
• Financially dependent on a member of the Fund
• A child of a member of the Fund and under the age of 18, or age 21 and still in full-time education

The type and amount of any death benefits payable will depend on the member’s individual circumstances.

What happens next

We’ll send you a death notification and questionnaire to complete

You will need to give us information about the person who died, including their:

• Full name
• Date of birth
• Address
• National Insurance number
• The details of their Will, if they had one
• Details of their solicitor, executor or legal representative

You will also need to provide some personal details if you are telling us about the death, including your:

• Name
• Relationship to the person who died
• Contact details

We might need to ask for more information

This might include:

• Proof that you were dependent financially on the member (if you are applying for a dependant’s pension)
• Your bank details
• Proof of identity

We’ll set up payments

Once we’ve received all of the relevant information, we’ll work out which benefits will be paid, to who.

Depending on what benefits the member had, their eligible children or dependants might be paid a cash lump sum, a regular pension or both. When we set this up we’ll tell them how this will work.

Then we’ll set up payments.

This process can take some time. Once the payments have been set up we’ll write to the children or dependants to confirm how much they will get paid, and when.

Payments to children

The Trustees decide who any pension payments are paid to depending on the child’s circumstances. This could be to a parent or guardian, or could be the child’s account if they already have a bank account.

Any cash lump sum payments to children will usually be held in trust. The Trustees decide when the children can get the money, but in most cases this is when they are 18.

Paying tax on pension income

Most income from a pension will be added to other income. So the person who receives the payments may have to pay tax on this money.

We’ll tell them if they might have to pay tax when we set up the payments.

If you are managing the member’s estate

You may have to manage other parts of the member’s finances after they die. This could include any debts that they had, or any taxes that need to be paid.

To do this you’ll need information about the member’s recent earnings and tax. We’ll send you this information once we’ve arranged payments.

Read more about sorting out the estate of someone who has died on MoneyHelper