How to Collect a Pension Death Benefit as Executor

Step 1: Notify the Pension Provider Immediately

Notify each pension provider as soon as possible after the death. Delays in notification can lead to overpayments (which become estate debts) and delays in processing the death benefit claim.

Send the following to each pension provider:

• A letter notifying them of the death.
• A certified copy of the death certificate.
• The member's name, date of birth, and membership/reference number.
• Your own details as executor and your contact information.

The provider will then stop any pension payments (if the deceased was already taking a pension), confirm the scheme rules, and initiate the death benefit claim process.

Step 2: Obtain the Fund Value and Check the Nomination

Ask the pension provider for:

• The fund value at the date of death (for DC schemes).
• A copy of the most recent nomination of beneficiary form.
• Confirmation of the scheme rules regarding death benefits.
• Details of any death-in-service lump sum or guaranteed annuity payments.

You need the fund value for inheritance tax purposes. For a death before 6 April 2027 most defined contribution pots sit outside the estate; for a death on or after that date, most unused funds come into it — see our pension valuation guide) and for the estate accounts.

Who Actually Decides — and It Is Not Always a Trustee

The first thing to establish about any pension in an estate is which of these three it is, because the answer changes what you can expect.

• Trust-based schemes — master trusts such as Nest, NOW: Pensions and The People's Pension, and schemes such as USS. A trustee has a genuine discretion, takes the nomination as its main guide, and is not bound by it.
• Personal pensions and SIPPs — the discretion belongs to the provider as scheme administrator under the plan rules. A contract-based personal pension has no trustees at all.
• Statutory public service schemes — NHS, Teachers', Police, Firefighters', Armed Forces. These are created by regulations, are not trusts and have no trustees. Often the nomination is decisive rather than persuasive: the AFPS 15 scheme guide says a valid nomination takes precedence even where there is a spouse. In the 1992 firefighters' scheme it is the other way round — the death grant goes to a qualifying surviving spouse, or to the personal representatives, and no nomination changes that.

In every case, beneficiaries claim directly from the scheme. The executor does not receive the funds unless the benefit is payable to the estate.

The key message for members: keep pension nomination forms up to date. Where the scheme has a discretion, an out-of-date form naming an ex-spouse will be considered but may not be followed; where the nomination binds, the money goes to the ex-spouse anyway.

When Death Benefits Are Paid to the Estate

A death benefit reaches the estate either because a scheme with a discretion decides to pay it there, or because the scheme rules send it there — the statutory schemes typically pay the personal representatives where there is no surviving spouse, civil partner or eligible child. In that case:

• The funds become part of the probate estate.
• They are included in the inheritance tax calculation. For a death before 6 April 2027 that is the difference between a benefit paid to the estate and one paid direct to a beneficiary; on or after that date most unused funds are in the calculation either way.
• You collect them using the grant of probate in the same way as any other asset.

DC Pension: Claims Process

For defined contribution pensions (personal pensions, SIPPs, workplace money purchase schemes):

1. Notify the provider and provide death certificate.
2. The provider sends a death benefit expression of wishes form (or checks the existing nomination) and may send a claim form to the nominated beneficiaries.
3. Beneficiaries complete the claim form and provide their identity documents.
4. The scheme makes its decision and pays the beneficiaries. No official source publishes a typical timescale and schemes differ widely, so ask the scheme for its own service standard rather than working to a rule of thumb.
5. Payment can be made as a lump sum or (for beneficiaries who wish to keep it in a pension) into a beneficiary drawdown account.

DB Pension: Death Benefits Available

Defined benefit (final salary) schemes typically offer:

• Death in service lump sum: A multiple of salary, set by the scheme rather than by any general rule — two times pensionable pay in the 1992 firefighters' scheme, three times in the 2006 and 2015 firefighters' schemes and in USS, four times final pensionable earnings in AFPS 15 and AFPS 05. Ask the scheme rather than assuming a multiple.
• Spouse's/civil partner's pension: A reduced ongoing pension paid to the surviving spouse for life. This is not part of the estate — it belongs to the surviving spouse.
• Dependent's pension: For dependent children under 23 (or older if in full-time education or disabled).
• Pension guarantee: If the member died within a guarantee period, remaining guaranteed income may be paid as a lump sum.

Tax on Pension Death Benefits

The tax treatment of pension death benefits depends on the age of the deceased at death:

• Died before age 75: Lump sum death benefits are generally paid free of income tax, up to the deceased's lump sum and death benefit allowance — normally £1,073,100 across all their pensions. This is the allowance that replaced the lifetime allowance, which was abolished on 6 April 2024; it is a different allowance from the lump sum allowance of £268,275, which caps tax-free lump sums taken in the member's lifetime. GOV.UK also warns that a lump sum paid more than two years after the provider was told of the death is taxable even for a death before 75.
• Died on or after age 75: Death benefit lump sums are subject to income tax at the recipient's marginal rate. Beneficiary drawdown income is also taxed at the recipient's marginal rate.

From 6 April 2027 most unused pension funds and death benefits come into the estate for inheritance tax. HMRC's policy paper of 26 November 2025 confirms this applies "regardless of whether the pension scheme administrators or scheme trustees have discretion over the payment of any death benefits", and that death in service benefits from a registered pension scheme and dependants' scheme pensions from a defined benefit arrangement are excluded. The spouse, civil partner and charity exemptions are kept.

This matters directly to you as executor. After the technical consultation the government announced on 21 July 2025 that personal representatives, not pension scheme administrators, are liable for reporting and paying the inheritance tax due on unused pension funds. Personal representatives can direct a scheme administrator to withhold funds, in which case a beneficiary can access only 50% of the benefits that may be subject to inheritance tax, for up to 15 months after the date of death. See our inheritance tax guide for 2026–27.

For the overall estate administration process, see our estate administration checklist.

Related Guides

• Valuing a Pension for Probate
• Pensions and IHT: 2027 Changes
• Executor First Steps
• Applying for Probate
• Complete UK Probate Guide 2026
• IHT400 Form Guide