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There is no single rule here, which is why so much of what is written about it is wrong. GOV.UK sets the rules out by reference to your own State Pension age first — before or on/after 6 April 2016 — and then by when your spouse reached theirs and when the marriage or civil partnership began. Broadly, the older system allows more to be inherited than the new one, but the detail decides it, so check your own position rather than assuming.
State Pension inheritance is one of the most misunderstood areas of bereavement finances. The rules changed significantly from April 2016 and the outcome for any individual depends on which system their deceased spouse was in. This guide explains both regimes clearly, tells you what you may be entitled to, and explains the steps to take to claim what you are owed.
GOV.UK organises the rules around your own State Pension age first, then your spouse’s, then the date of the marriage or civil partnership. All three can change the answer:
Guidance that reduces this to “it depends which system your spouse was in” is oversimplifying. Use the checker on GOV.UK for your own combination of dates.
Which system applied to your spouse still matters, so it is worth establishing:
If your spouse had not yet reached State Pension age when they died, the regime that would have applied to them determines the inheritance rules — in other words, the date they would have reached State Pension age is what matters, not their date of death.
You can check which system applied by looking at any State Pension award letters your spouse received from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), or by contacting the DWP Bereavement Service directly.
If you reach State Pension age on or after 6 April 2016, the new State Pension rules apply to you. The headline amount of the new State Pension is based on your own National Insurance record and cannot be inherited. But GOV.UK lists three things that can be:
So the common summary — “half a protected payment, and nothing else” — is wrong. It is also true that many people have no protected payment at all, so do not assume there is one either.
The rationale behind this change was that the new State Pension is based entirely on each individual’s own National Insurance record. The government therefore designed it to be a personal entitlement rather than one that transfers on death. This was a deliberate policy decision — but it has left many surviving spouses significantly worse off than they expected.
To find out whether your spouse had a protected payment, contact the DWP. They will have this information on their records and can tell you the amount, if any, that you may be entitled to inherit.
Important: Check the protected payment amount
A protected payment is not the same as the full new State Pension amount. It is a specific addition calculated at the point of transition in April 2016. Many people who were already in the new system have no protected payment at all. Do not assume your partner had one — contact DWP to confirm.
If your spouse was in the old State Pension regime (they reached, or would have reached, State Pension age before 6 April 2016), the inheritance rules are considerably more favourable. There are two elements to consider:
Basic State Pension: your own basic State Pension can be topped up using your late spouse’s National Insurance record, up to the full basic State Pension — which is £184.90 a week in 2026/27 (it was £176.45 in 2025/26). This is a top-up, not an addition: you cannot end up with more than the full basic rate through inheritance.
SERPS and State Second Pension (S2P) inheritance: The State Earnings-Related Pension Scheme (SERPS) and its successor the State Second Pension (S2P) were additional State Pensions built up through earnings between 1978 and 2016. The amount you can inherit depends on when your spouse was born:
State Second Pension is capped at 50% whatever the dates. For SERPS, the maximum depends on the deceased’s date of birth — and the bands are five years apart for men and women, which is where most published summaries go wrong. GOV.UK’s table:
| Man born | Woman born | Maximum |
|---|---|---|
| 5 October 1937 or before | 5 October 1942 or before | 100% |
| 6 Oct 1937 to 5 Oct 1939 | 6 Oct 1942 to 5 Oct 1944 | 90% |
| 6 Oct 1939 to 5 Oct 1941 | 6 Oct 1944 to 5 Oct 1946 | 80% |
| 6 Oct 1941 to 5 Oct 1943 | 6 Oct 1946 to 5 Oct 1948 | 70% |
| 6 Oct 1943 to 5 Oct 1945 | 6 Oct 1948 to 5 Jul 1950 | 60% |
| 6 October 1945 and after | 6 July 1950 and after | 50% |
That table applies where the death was on or after 6 October 2002. For deaths before that date, up to 100% could be inherited.
Any inherited amount is added to your own State Pension payment. DWP calculates the figures and adjusts your payments once it has been told about the death.
Remarriage ends the entitlement
You cannot inherit your spouse or civil partner’s Additional State Pension if you remarry or form another civil partnership before you reach State Pension age. This applies under both sets of rules and is easy to miss.
When someone dies, you should notify the DWP as soon as practicable. The quickest way is through the Tell Us Once service, which notifies multiple government departments simultaneously, including the DWP Pension Service. You can access Tell Us Once via the local authority registrar when you register the death.
Once DWP has been notified through Tell Us Once, they will automatically review whether you are entitled to any inherited State Pension and write to you with the outcome. In many cases, no further action from you is required.
If you think you may be entitled to something DWP has not confirmed, contact them. GOV.UK gives two different numbers and they are easy to confuse: the DWP Bereavement Service on 0800 151 2012 is the line for reporting a death and cancelling benefits and State Pension, while the Pension Service on 0800 731 0469 is the line for your own State Pension entitlement. Both are open Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.
This one circulates widely and it is not a thing. The 52-week payment people are remembering is Bereavement Allowance, a separate weekly benefit paid for up to 52 weeks or until the survivor reached State Pension age, whichever came first. It was abolished for deaths on or after 6 April 2017 and replaced, along with Bereavement Payment and Widowed Parent’s Allowance, by Bereavement Support Payment, which is a lump sum plus 18 monthly payments and is only available below State Pension age.
There is no transitional State Pension rate that runs for 52 weeks and then drops. If someone has told you there is, ask them where GOV.UK says so.
One thing that is real: any State Pension paid for a period after the date of death has to be repaid. DWP will work this out and may deduct it from arrears owed to you, or ask for it back separately.
DWP contact details
DWP Bereavement Service (reporting a death, cancelling benefits and State Pension): 0800 151 2012, Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm. Welsh language 0800 731 0453. Relay UK: 18001 then 0800 151 2012.
The Pension Service (your own State Pension and what you can inherit): 0800 731 0469, Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm except public holidays. Welsh language 0800 731 0453. Relay UK: 18001 then 0800 731 0469. A British Sign Language video relay service is available.
By post: The Pension Service, Post Handling Site A, Wolverhampton, WV98 1AF. Always quote your spouse’s National Insurance number in all correspondence.
If you are below State Pension age when your spouse dies, you will not receive any inherited State Pension payments until you yourself reach State Pension age. The entitlement is noted on your record and will be applied when you make your own State Pension claim.
In the meantime, you may be entitled to other bereavement benefits, most notably Bereavement Support Payment, which provides a lump sum and 18 monthly payments to surviving spouses and civil partners who are under State Pension age. See our separate guide on Bereavement Support Payment for full details.
When you eventually reach State Pension age and claim your own pension, make sure you mention to DWP that you are a surviving spouse and that an inherited entitlement should be applied. Having a record of your late spouse’s National Insurance number will help DWP trace their record and apply any inherited amount correctly.
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