The People’s Pension is the UK’s largest independent commercial master trust, with over seven million members and more than 100,000 employers. Because it has been one of the default auto-enrolment providers since 2012, many families discover a People’s Pension exists only after a death — there may be no paperwork at home and no memory of the member ever discussing it. That does not mean the money is lost.
This guide explains what happens to a People’s Pension when a member dies, how to contact the bereavement team, what documents you will need, and the important tax and nomination rules that affect how the money is paid. It is written for spouses, civil partners, children, executors, and anyone else dealing with the practical side of a bereavement.
Quick reference:
- Bereavement team phone: 0300 2000 555 (Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 6pm)
- Online bereavement notification: peoplespension.co.uk – bereavement new claim
- Tell Us Once: does not cover The People’s Pension — you must contact them directly
- Typical timeline: 4–8 weeks from receipt of all documents
- Postal address: People’s Pension, Manor Royal, Crawley, RH10 9QP
About The People’s Pension
The People’s Pension was launched in 2011 by B&CE (Building and Civil Engineering), a not-for-profit financial services business with roots in the construction industry. The parent organisation rebranded as People’s Partnership, but the scheme itself trades as The People’s Pension.
Unlike insurance-company pension providers, The People’s Pension has no shareholders. It is run by an independent Trustee Board and any surplus is reinvested for members rather than paid out as dividends. By 2026 it had grown to over seven million members across more than 100,000 employers — making it one of the most common workplace pensions in the UK.
If you are not certain the deceased had a People’s Pension, check bank statements for employer pension contributions, search through old payslips or annual pension statements, or contact former employers to ask which auto-enrolment scheme they used. The government’s free Pension Tracing Service can also help you find contact details for any schemes you cannot locate.
How to notify The People’s Pension
The People’s Pension has a dedicated bereavement team. You can reach them by phone or through their online contact form.
By phone
Call 0300 2000 555, Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 6pm. Calls to 0300 numbers cost the same as a standard UK landline call and are included in most mobile contracts.
Before you call, have the following to hand:
- The deceased’s full name and date of birth
- Their date of death
- Their address at the date of death
- Their National Insurance number — this is the key identifier for locating the account. It appears on payslips, P60s, or any HMRC correspondence. If you cannot find it, call anyway and the team may be able to locate the account with other details.
- Your own name, address, and relationship to the deceased
You will be transferred to the bereavement team, who will log the notification and tell you what documents to send and where. Make a note of any reference number they give you — you will need it for follow-up calls.
Online
The People’s Pension also offers an online bereavement contact form for new claims at peoplespension.co.uk – bereavement new claim. You will need to provide the deceased’s name, date of birth, address, and National Insurance number, plus your own contact details and relationship to the deceased.
For any follow-up on an existing claim, use the ongoing claim contact form.
What happens after you make contact
Once you have notified The People’s Pension:
- The account is frozen — no further transactions or contributions are processed
- The bereavement team assigns a case reference
- They confirm what documents are needed and where to send them
- A claims handler reviews the nomination on file (if one exists) and begins the payment decision process
Documents you will need
The People’s Pension will tell you exactly what they need once you have made initial contact — requirements vary depending on your relationship to the deceased and the size of the pot. The one document required in every case is an original death certificate.
| Document | When needed |
|---|---|
| Death certificate (original or certified copy) | Always required |
| Deceased's National Insurance number | Needed to locate the account |
| Photo ID for the claimant (passport or driving licence) | Required for all claimants |
| Proof of address for the claimant | Required for all claimants |
| Marriage or civil partnership certificate | If you are claiming as a spouse or civil partner |
| Evidence of relationship to the deceased | May be requested if you are not named on a nomination form |
| Evidence of shared address or financial dependency | May be requested for cohabiting partners or dependants |
| Grant of probate or letters of administration | Only if the benefit is being paid to the estate rather than directly to a named beneficiary |
Because The People’s Pension is a discretionary trust, probate documents are not normally required. The trustees can pay benefits directly to beneficiaries without waiting for a grant of probate. Probate only becomes relevant if there is no valid nomination and the trustees decide to pay the pot to the estate — which is unusual but possible.
(Source: peoplespension.co.uk – paperwork required for a death claim)
What happens to the pension pot
The People’s Pension is a defined contribution (DC) pension — a pot of money built up through employer and employee contributions, invested over time. When a member dies, whatever the pot is worth at that point can be paid out as a death benefit.
Before or after accessing the pension
The rules differ depending on whether the deceased had started drawing on the pension:
Death before the member took any benefits (uncrystallised): The full pot is available to beneficiaries. The trustees will follow the expression of wish on file, or use their discretion if no nomination exists.
Death after the member had started drawdown: If the member was drawing an income from their pension pot (flexi-access drawdown), whatever remains in the pot passes to beneficiaries under the same rules. The trustees have the same discretion; beneficiaries can choose to take it as a lump sum or continue drawing it down.
Lump sum or drawdown
Beneficiaries typically have a choice of how to receive the money:
- Lump sum — the full remaining value paid directly to them
- Drawdown continuation — taking over the pot and drawing on it over time (available for direct beneficiaries)
People’s Pension will explain the available options during the claims process.
Tax treatment
The tax treatment of the pension death benefit depends on the age of the deceased at death. This is one of the most important points to understand, and it is determined by rules that apply to all registered pension schemes. (Source: gov.uk – tax on a private pension you inherit)
Died before age 75: Beneficiaries can usually receive the pension pot free of income tax — whether as a lump sum or as drawdown income. This applies up to the lump sum and death benefit allowance (currently £1,073,100). Anything above that allowance is taxed at the beneficiary’s marginal income tax rate. There is also a two-year rule: if The People’s Pension is not notified of the death within two years of the date of death, the lump sum payment becomes subject to income tax even if the deceased was under 75.
Died at age 75 or over: All pension payments to beneficiaries — whether lump sum or drawdown income — are subject to income tax at the beneficiary’s marginal rate. There is no tax-free option after age 75.
Nominations and expression of wish
The most important thing you can do — or should have done — with any defined contribution pension is complete an expression of wish form (also called a nomination of beneficiaries form). The People’s Pension provides one through the member’s online account.
This form names the person or people the member would like to receive the pension pot if they die. It is not legally binding — the trustees retain discretion — but in practice it is almost always followed where a valid nomination exists and circumstances have not changed significantly since it was completed.
Because the trustees have discretion, the money sits outside the estate. It is not a legal asset of the deceased and does not need to go through probate. This is the mechanism that currently keeps pension death benefits outside inheritance tax (though this changes in April 2027 — see below).
Checking whether a nomination exists
If you have access to the deceased’s People’s Pension login, you can check whether an expression of wish was filed through their online account. If you do not have access, The People’s Pension’s bereavement team can tell you whether a nomination is on file once you have notified them of the death.
If no nomination is on file
Where the deceased never completed an expression of wish, the trustees will still make a decision. They will typically look for:
- A surviving spouse or civil partner
- A financially dependent person
- Any instructions in a will (taken as evidence of intent, though trustees are not bound by it)
- Family circumstances more broadly
This process takes longer than a straightforward nomination case — the trustees may write to potential beneficiaries and gather information before deciding. There is no fixed timeline when discretion has to be fully exercised from scratch.
If no nomination exists and no obvious beneficiary can be identified, the pot may eventually be paid to the estate, in which case it falls under the will or intestacy rules and grant of probate would be needed.
The April 2027 pension inheritance tax change
This is a significant change that affects anyone dealing with a pension death benefit, and anyone who is alive and planning their estate.
Under the rules that apply to deaths before 6 April 2027, most defined contribution pension pots paid under trustees’ discretion sit outside the taxable estate and are not subject to inheritance tax. This has made pensions one of the most tax-efficient ways to pass on wealth to the next generation.
From 6 April 2027, that changes.
The Finance Act 2026, which received Royal Assent on 18 March 2026, brings unused pension funds and most pension death benefits within the scope of inheritance tax for people who die on or after that date. (Source: gov.uk – Inheritance Tax: unused pension funds and death benefits)
| Death before 6 April 2027 | Death on or after 6 April 2027 |
|---|---|
| Pension pot outside the estate (if discretionary) | Pension pot included in estate value for IHT |
| No IHT on pension death benefits paid to nominated beneficiaries | IHT at 40% applies to estate value above the nil-rate band (£325,000), including pension |
| Personal representatives do not report pension values on IHT400 | Personal representatives responsible for reporting and paying IHT on pension death benefits |
| Beneficiaries can access full pension proceeds | Beneficiaries may only access up to 50% of pension benefits for up to 15 months while funds are held pending tax payment |
What remains exempt from the April 2027 change:
- Death in service benefits from a registered pension scheme
- Dependant’s scheme pensions from defined benefit or collective money purchase arrangements
- Benefits passing to a surviving spouse or civil partner (these benefit from the spousal IHT exemption)
- Benefits passing to a registered charity
The government estimates approximately 10,500 additional estates per year will face an inheritance tax liability as a result, with average additional IHT liability of around £34,000 per affected estate.
If you are dealing with an estate where the deceased died before 6 April 2027, the current rules apply — the People’s Pension pot paid under trustees’ discretion is outside the estate and not subject to inheritance tax. For deaths on or after that date, the picture changes and specialist estate advice may be worth seeking.
For a broader overview of how pension assets interact with inheritance tax, see our pensions overview.
Tell Us Once
Tell Us Once is the government service that allows you to notify multiple government departments of a death in a single step. It covers HMRC, DWP, the DVLA, local councils, and several public-sector pension schemes.
The People’s Pension is not covered by Tell Us Once. It is a private workplace pension, not a public-sector scheme. Tell Us Once will not notify them. You must contact The People’s Pension directly, either by phone or online.
The same applies to the Death Notification Service used by banks — that service is for financial institutions and does not extend to pension providers.
(Source: gov.uk – Tell Us Once: organisations included)
How long it takes
The People’s Pension aims to process bereavement claims once all required documents have been received. Based on published information and comparable providers, a typical timeline is:
| Stage | Typical timeframe |
|---|---|
| Initial contact and account freeze | Same day (phone or online form) |
| Document submission and review | 1–2 weeks from documents received |
| Trustee decision and payment authorisation | 2–6 weeks (straightforward cases); longer where discretion is required |
| Payment to beneficiary | Typically 4–8 weeks from receipt of all documents |
Cases take longer when:
- There is no nomination form and trustees must investigate circumstances
- There are multiple potential beneficiaries with competing claims
- Documents are missing, uncertified, or sent to the wrong address
- The estate requires probate and the claim is being paid to the estate rather than directly
If you have not heard back within four weeks of submitting all documents, follow up on 0300 2000 555 with your claim reference number.
Things to watch out for
The two-year clock starts on the date of death, not the date you call. For deaths before age 75, the tax-free treatment of the lump sum depends on The People’s Pension being notified and the payment being made within two years of death. If that window passes — whether due to delay on your part or a slow claims process — any lump sum paid out becomes subject to income tax at the beneficiary’s marginal rate. Contact the bereavement team promptly, even if you are still gathering documents.
The nomination is not the same as the will. Many people assume that whoever is named in the will receives the pension. That is not how it works. The trustees decide who gets the People’s Pension pot, guided by whatever expression of wish the member completed. If the member named an ex-spouse on a form ten years ago and never updated it, the trustees will take that into account. They are not bound by it, but they will not simply ignore it either. Check what nomination is on file as early as possible.
You do not need probate before contacting them. Because The People’s Pension operates as a discretionary trust, the pension pot sits outside the estate. You do not need a grant of probate to begin the bereavement process, and you do not need one for the money to be paid to a nominated beneficiary. Only contact them about probate if the trustees ultimately decide to pay the pot to the estate directly.
Deferred accounts are treated the same as active ones. If the deceased left a previous employer and their People’s Pension contributions stopped years ago, the account is now deferred — but it still exists and still has value. A deferred account goes through exactly the same bereavement process as an active one.
The member may have more than one workplace pension. The People’s Pension is one of the most common auto-enrolment providers, but many people have accumulated pensions with multiple providers over a working life. Each scheme must be contacted separately — there is no central notification service for workplace pensions equivalent to the Death Notification Service for banks. Use the Pension Tracing Service if you think there are other pension pots to find.
Summary
The People’s Pension is one of the UK’s most common workplace pensions, so if the deceased was employed at any point since 2012, it is worth checking whether they had an account — even without any paperwork.
Call the bereavement team on 0300 2000 555 (Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 6pm) or submit a notification online at peoplespension.co.uk/help-and-support/contact-us/bereavement/new-claim/. Have the deceased’s National Insurance number and date of death ready. Payment typically takes 4–8 weeks from receipt of all documents.
For the wider picture on pensions after a bereavement — including state pensions, public-sector schemes, and how to trace lost pensions — see our pensions overview.
For other workplace auto-enrolment pension providers, see our guide on how to notify NOW: Pensions when someone dies and how to claim a NEST pension when someone dies.
For the full list of organisations to contact after a bereavement, see who to notify when someone dies.
Phone number and process last verified: May 2026, from peoplespension.co.uk – bereavement contact and peoplespension.co.uk – death claim paperwork. IHT change sourced from gov.uk – Inheritance Tax: unused pension funds and death benefits.