Losing someone is the worst time to deal with paperwork. Sorting through pensions you didn't know they had — or pensions you knew about but can't find the documents for — is one of those tasks that can wait a few weeks while everything else settles.
When you are ready, this guide walks through the practical UK steps for tracing a deceased loved one's pensions: what records you'll need, who to contact, what survivors are typically entitled to, and which free Government and provider services can help.
We want to be straightforward: the Pension Tracing Service® does not trace pensions on behalf of deceased relatives. Our service is for living pension members tracing their own pensions. The deceased process involves additional probate documentation and a different regulatory pathway — it isn't something we offer.
What we can offer instead is this guide, which walks through the steps and points you to the people who can help. If you'd ever like to trace your own pensions in the future, we're here for that.
There's no rush. Most UK pensions don't have strict claim deadlines for survivors, and the funds remain held by the provider or trustee on the deceased's record until the estate makes contact. A few weeks or months pause to deal with the immediate priorities — funeral, registration of death, immediate finances — won't usually cause anything to be lost.
That said, the longer you leave it, the more memory and paperwork can drift. Most families find it easier to start the process while documents are still relatively fresh.
In the UK, pension records of a deceased person can typically be requested by:
The executor of the estate (named in the will), or
The administrator of the estate (if there's no will, applied via Letters of Administration), or
A personal representative acting under a Grant of Probate / Confirmation (in Scotland)
Pension providers will ask you to evidence one of these roles before releasing records. The exact documentation varies by provider but usually includes:
The death certificate (original or certified copy)
The Grant of Probate (England, Wales, Northern Ireland) or Confirmation (Scotland), if applicable
The will naming you as executor (if relevant)
Your own photo ID and proof of address
If the estate is small enough that probate isn't required, providers may accept a "Small Estates" declaration plus the death certificate.
Before you start contacting providers, gather what you can find at home:
Annual benefit statements — pension providers send these every year while the person is a member. Often filed in a "pensions" folder or kept with annual tax paperwork.
Joiner packs — when starting a job, employees often received a pack from the pension provider. These name the scheme.
Old payslips — show pension contributions deducted and sometimes the scheme name.
P45s and P60s — confirm employment dates, useful for cross-referencing work history.
The deceased's CV or LinkedIn — useful if you're not sure of every job they held.
Bank statements — direct debits to a pension provider can reveal personal pensions you didn't know about.
Email — searching their inbox for "pension", "Aviva", "Nest", "Standard Life" etc. often surfaces forgotten arrangements.
Pension benefits payable on death depend on the type of pension and its specific rules — but here's the general UK picture.
These are individual pots — money built up over time. On death:
Before age 75: usually paid as a tax-free lump sum to nominated beneficiaries
After age 75: paid as a lump sum or income to nominated beneficiaries, taxed at the recipient's income tax rate
The pension provider will ask for the Expression of Wish form the deceased completed (naming who they wanted the pot to go to)
These pay an income, not a cash pot. On death:
A lump sum may be payable if death occurred before retirement (typically 4× salary or similar)
A survivor's pension (often 50–66% of the original pension) may be payable to the spouse, civil partner, or sometimes a financial dependant
Some schemes pay a child's pension to dependent children
The exact terms are in the scheme rules.
The State Pension itself stops on death, but a surviving spouse or civil partner may be entitled to:
An uplift to their own State Pension based on the deceased's NI contributions
Bereavement Support Payment — a lump sum and monthly payments for up to 18 months, contact the DWP to claim
The surviving spouse should contact the DWP Pensions Service to register the death and check entitlements.
There's no single "deceased pension finder" service in the UK that handles everything end-to-end. The realistic process is to work through it yourself, using free Government tools and contacting each pension provider's bereavement team. Here's how.
Use the records you've gathered to list every employer and provider you can identify. Even partial information helps — "worked at Tesco around 2005-2008, possibly Nest pension after 2012, life insurance with Aviva".
For each employer, look up the scheme contact details at gov.uk/find-pension-contact-details. This is the UK Government's free tracing tool — it gives you the current contact details for the scheme administrator.
It won't tell you whether the deceased had a pension with that scheme; you'll need to contact the scheme to confirm.
Most major UK pension providers have a dedicated bereavement team. Search the provider's website for "bereavement" or "what happens when someone dies". They'll send you the relevant claim forms and tell you exactly what documentation they need.
Tip: when you make contact, ask for a statement of accrued benefits at date of death. This becomes important for probate and any inheritance tax calculations.
If the deceased was receiving the State Pension, or if the surviving spouse may be entitled to bereavement support, contact the DWP Pensions Service by phone or via gov.uk/tell-us-once (which informs multiple Government services of a death in one go).
If the deceased was contracted out of the Additional State Pension at any point between 1978 and 2016, HMRC holds records of those contributions and the scheme they were redirected into. As the personal representative of the estate, you can request these records in writing from HMRC's National Insurance Contributions Office.
If a former employer no longer exists, search the company name at find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk to identify any successor company that may have absorbed the pension administration.
Bereavement is hard, and pension paperwork is unfamiliar. These free services are specifically there to help.
MoneyHelper Bereavement Support — moneyhelper.org.uk has a dedicated section on financial matters after a death, with free guidance on pensions, tax, and benefits. Government-backed and independent.
DWP Tell Us Once — gov.uk/tell-us-once. A single notification that informs DWP, HMRC, the Passport Office, the DVLA and more, saving you contacting each separately.
Citizens Advice — citizensadvice.org.uk. Free, impartial support on every aspect of dealing with a death, including pensions and benefits. They have local offices across the UK.
The deceased's solicitor or executor (if they had one) — often the best first port of call, as they may already have details of the deceased's financial arrangements.
Pension providers' bereavement teams directly — most major UK providers have a single bereavement contact number that handles claims for all their schemes.
If you're tracing pensions on behalf of a deceased relative in Scotland, the equivalent of probate (used in England, Wales and Northern Ireland) is Confirmation, granted by the Sheriff Court. Pension providers' bereavement teams accept Confirmation as the equivalent legal authority. Some Scottish public sector pensions are administered by the Scottish Public Pensions Agency (SPPA) at pensions.gov.scot.
No. Our service is for living pension members tracing their own pensions only. We don't offer a deceased-trace service. This guide is here to help you do it yourself or point you to who can.
Each pension provider's bereavement team for any pensions you can identify; the DWP for State Pension matters; HMRC's National Insurance Contributions Office for any contracted-out SERPS records. The free Government tool at gov.uk/find-pension-contact-details can help you identify provider contact details for known employers.
At minimum: the original death certificate, your photo ID and proof of address. For most pensions you'll also need the Grant of Probate (or Confirmation in Scotland) or — for very small estates — a Small Estates declaration. Each provider will tell you exactly what they need.
No. Each provider needs to be contacted, given evidence of your authority and the death, and then they'll process the claim per the scheme rules and the deceased's Expression of Wish. Some pay lump sums; others pay a survivor's pension.
Use the records you have (payslips, bank statements, P60s) to identify former employers, then look each one up via the Gov.UK Find Pension Contact Details tool to identify the scheme. HMRC and the DWP can also be contacted with the right legal authority for State and contracted-out records.
Most pensions sit outside the deceased's estate for IHT purposes — meaning death benefits typically pass to beneficiaries IHT-free. There are exceptions and the rules can change (HM Treasury announced changes that take effect from 2027); a regulated financial adviser can confirm the position for the specific pensions you've found.
The Government's Find Pension Contact Details tool at gov.uk/find-pension-contact-details is free and can be used by personal representatives of the estate. It provides the contact details of UK pension schemes by employer name; it doesn't carry out the claim itself. For broader bereavement support, MoneyHelper (moneyhelper.org.uk) is the Government-backed free guidance service.
MoneyHelper at moneyhelper.org.uk has a free, dedicated bereavement section. Citizens Advice at citizensadvice.org.uk also provides free, impartial help on financial matters after a death, including pensions.
We don't carry out the trace for a deceased relative — but we do offer this guide as a starting point, and if you (the family member) want to trace your own pensions in the future, we're set up to help with that.
Tracing a deceased relative's pensions in the UK is something you (or another personal representative of the estate) can do directly using the free Government tools and providers' bereavement teams. There's no single end-to-end service that handles everything — but the path is well-trodden, and MoneyHelper, Citizens Advice, and the deceased's own solicitor (if any) are all free sources of support.
Take it slowly, gather what you have, and work through one provider at a time.
For background context on UK pension tracing in general see our Pension Finder UK guide or How to find my pensions.
You can also request contact details from the Pension Tracing Service by phone or by post.
The Pension Tracing Service
Telephone: 0800 1223 170
From outside the UK: +44 (0) 1782 389134
Monday to Friday, 9:30 am to 5:00 pm
Address
The Pension Tracing Service
The Lantern
High Street
Ilfracombe
EX34 9QB
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The Pension Tracing Service® is a trading style of Millennial Wealth Ltd. We are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA number 914746). Pinnacle House, 34 Newark Road, Peterborough, PE1 5YD. Registered company number 11557299.
Profile Pensions is a trading name of Profile Financial Solutions Ltd, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA number 596398). Registered office: Norwest Court, Guildhall Street, Preston, PR1 3NU.
This service is not affiliated with the Department for Work and Pensions or any government body. When you click to get started, you'll be taken to Profile Pensions to complete your sign-up and begin the Find, Check & Transfer service. Capital at risk: the value of investments can go down as well as up and you may get back less than you put in. Past performance is not a guide to future performance. Tax treatment depends on your individual circumstances and may change.
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