FAQs on Bereavement

If you need to report the passing of a member of the Pension Protection Fund you can report a bereavement online. If you’d prefer to speak to someone, please call us on 0330 123 2222 or +44 (0)20 8633 4902 if you live overseas.

You can report the passing of a member of the Pension Protection Fund by using our online notification service.

Examples of information we need include:

• details of the deceased (such as name, address, date of birth, date of death, National Insurance number or PPF reference number)
• details of the person - or persons - in charge of the estate (if known)
• whether there are any potential beneficiaries (if you're unsure, please read our 'Compensation payments for survivors' booklet)
• a scan of the death certificate (if available)

We understand that some of this information may not be available so please provide as much as you can.

With our new online beneficiary nomination form, you now have the choice to opt out of nominating a beneficiary.

Yes, if you have eligible children, they will receive compensation until they are no longer eligible.

An eligible child is a child who is your biological child (born or unborn at the date of your death), an adopted child, or child who was financially dependent upon you at the time of your death. And who is:

• under 18, or
• over 18 and under 23 and in qualifying education, or
• over 18 and under 23 and has a qualifying disability.

If you die before your former pension scheme enters PPF assessment survivor provisions may differ.

This depends on the rules of your former pension scheme - if your spouse/civil partner or relevant partner would have received a pension under those rules then they'll be eligible to receive survivor's compensation from us. We'll ask the person dealing with your estate for contact details of a spouse/relevant partner where one would be eligible.

Yes, depending on the rules of your former scheme, you can nominate your spouse, civil partner, or *relevant partner, using our online nomination form.

A *relevant partner is someone who you aren’t married to or in a civil partnership with, but who you live with as if you’re married or in a civil partnership.

You can nominate your spouse, *relevant partner, or civil partner depending on the rules of your former scheme. You don't need to nominate any children.

A *relevant partner is someone who you aren’t married to or in a civil partnership with, but who you live with as if you’re married or in a civil partnership.

You can nominate a beneficiary (spouse, civil partner or relevant partner*) by completing our online nomination form. You need to be registered on our member website to nominate your beneficiary. If you have any trouble nominating your beneficiary online, please contact our dedicated Contact Centre who can assist you further.

You also don't need to nominate any children. We'll enquire about any eligible children as part of the bereavement process.

*A relevant partner is someone who our member wasn’t married to or in a civil partnership with, but who they lived with as if they were married or in a civil partnership.

Nominating partners can be important. For instance, if you separated from your spouse but never got divorced and you had not nominated your new partner, compensation would automatically be paid to the spouse (and not your relevant partner) on your death.

It also means the partner has to provide less documentary proof on your death for us to confirm their eligibility for survivor's compensation.

We may still pay compensation to your partner even if you haven’t nominated them. But in addition to providing us with evidence that they were living with you at the time of your death, they’ll then have to demonstrate that you were either financially dependent on each other or that they were financially dependent on you.

Please note, we refer to such individuals in our letters and booklets as 'relevant partners'.

Yes, depending on the rules of your former scheme, you do need to fill out the online nomination form and nominate your spouse, civil partner, or *relevant partner. If you don't, your beneficiary can still apply for compensation in the event of your death, but they’ll have to provide more evidence to prove their eligibility.

A *relevant partner is someone who you aren’t married to or in a civil partnership with, but who you live with as if you’re married or in a civil partnership.

No. We only need to see a photocopy of the original certificate. When the Government’s Tell Us Once service is used, we don't require a death certificate.

You don't need to formally declare your children. If you have eligible children, they will receive compensation until they are no longer eligible.

An eligible child is one who is your biological child (born or unborn at the date of your death), an adopted child, or child who was financially dependent upon you at the time of your death and who is:

• under 18, or
• over 18 and under 23 and in qualifying education, or
• over 18 and under 23 and has a qualifying disability.

If you die before your former pension scheme enters PPF assessment, survivor provisions may differ.

Once we receive the completed beneficiaries’ claim form together with any relevant documents requested on the form, we will make monthly payments in advance to the survivor’s(s’) bank account(s).

Compensation is payable for life.

If you die after you have retired, an eligible spouse, civil partner or relevant partner will receive half the annual compensation you would be receiving at your date of death.

If you die before you retire and before you have reached the normal pension age of your former scheme, an eligible spouse, civil partner or relevant partner may receive half the compensation you would have received had you reached normal pension age immediately before you died. This means the compensation would be revalued to the day before death and no early retirement reduction would be applied.

If you die before you retire and after you have reached the normal pension age of your former scheme, an eligible spouse, civil partner or relevant partner may receive half the compensation you would have received had you retired immediately before you died.

A relevant partner is someone you are not married to but who you live with as if you are married.

The amount of compensation children will receive will depend on whether a spouse, civil partner or relevant partner will also receive compensation following the member's death.

Where compensation is being paid to a spouse, civil partner or relevant partner, the following compensation will be paid to the member’s children:

• one child – 25 per cent of the member’s compensation
• two or more children – 50 per cent of the member’s compensation, divided equally.

Where compensation is not being paid to a spouse, civil partner or relevant partner, the following compensation will be paid:

• one child – 50 per cent of the member’s compensation
• two or more children – 100 per cent of the member’s compensation, divided equally.

Payments will be made into a bank account in the name of the relevant child. When a child is no longer eligible for compensation, we'll stop making payments to them.

But, if there are other children who are still eligible, the amount of compensation they receive will be recalculated in line with the criteria above.

If you have nominated your partner to receive your compensation (and your former pension scheme allowed for a survivor's pension to be paid to a relevant partner) they'll receive the survivor's compensation. We'll need you to complete a nomination form even if you previously completed one for your former pension scheme.

If you have not nominated your partner, your former spouse will receive the compensation if we become aware of them.

In most cases we’ll need to see a copy of a member's death certificate. A death certificate isn't needed when the Government's Tell Us Once service is used.
Other documents may be needed, depending on your personal circumstances such as a:

• Marriage certificate
• Civil registration certificate
• Decree Absolute, Court Summons or Final Order.
• Dissolution certificate
• Child(ren)’s birth certificate(s)
• Amended birth certificate(s) issued on adoption.
• Name and contact details for the person dealing with the Estate

Where the deceased had a relevant partner*, we’ll need the proof that they were living with the member at the time of their death. Any document you provide should be dated within 12 months prior to the member's death, showing the same address we held on our records for them. We don’t need originals.

You need to upload one document from the list below:

• Valid UK driving license
• Bill such as a utility (e.g. Water, Gas, Electricity, TV, Internet, Phone and streaming services)
• Council Tax bill
• Bank statement
• Letter from a hospital or clinic confirming an appointment
• Letter from an official body such as the Department for Work and Pensions, HM Revenue & Customs or a Local Authority

*A relevant partner is someone who our member wasn’t married to or in a civil partnership with, but who they lived with as if they were married or in a civil partnership.

If you don't fill in a nomination form, your beneficiary can still apply for compensation in the event of your death, but they’ll have to provide more evidence to prove their eligibility.

If you have a surviving spouse or civil partner, and the terms of your former scheme allow for them to receive a pension when you die, they will receive compensation payments, regardless of whether you have filled in a nomination form or not.

However if you do leave a relevant partner, who is not a spouse or civil partner, in order to receive compensation your partner will need to provide evidence that they were financially dependent on you or that you were mutually financially dependent.

Also, if you leave a spouse or civil partner from a previous relationship, and haven't divorced or dissolved the partnership, then it is your spouse or civil partner that will be entitled to receive compensation.

We'll stop paying compensation to a child when they reach the age of 18 unless they are in qualifying education or have a qualifying disability. No compensation will be paid after the age of 23.

If a child is 18 or over and takes any break from full time education, their compensation will stop. However if they re-enter full-time education within 12 months, their compensation payments could be resumed if they let us know.

If your child stops their studies, they will lose their right to compensation. But, if they resume their studies on another course within 12 months, they can ask for their compensation to be paid again.

Up to the age of 23, children will receive compensation if they cannot undertake full-time paid employment due to a disability which is covered by the Equality Act 2010.

Once we have been told of your death we'll stop further payments immediately. As we pay compensation monthly in advance, a delay in telling us may lead to an overpayment, which will have to be paid back to us from your estate.

A relevant partner is someone who you aren’t married to or in a civil partnership with, but who you live with as if you’re married or in a civil partnership.

Yes, just before a child turns 18 they will be told that their compensation payments will stop on their 18th birthday.

If they remain eligible after this time because they are in qualifying education or have a qualifying disability, they'll be asked to send evidence to show that they are still eligible. They'll need to confirm eligibility each year until they no longer qualify.

You're be able to see the nomination online immediately, if you've submitted evidence we'll review this within 10 working days.

• Validated: We've checked your record and hold the up-to-date evidence of your nomination. You don’t need to take any further action now.
• Not Validated: This means:
  1. We’ve either not received any evidence to support your nomination. In which case, your beneficiary may have to provide more evidence in the event of your death, or
  2. If there has been a change (i.e. address and/or name) to your nomination, it will show as 'Not Validated' until the changes are reviewed by our Member Services team, or
  3. Your nomination is more than 12 months old and you’ve yet to confirm the details are still correct.