Many employers provide workplace pension schemes through work that pay a lump sum to help with funeral costs and sometimes pension benefits for a person’s surviving husband, wife, civil partner or even children. You should check to see if the person who died has ever belonged to this sort of scheme. Look at their bank statements for payments from a pension scheme, or check with their employer. They may have made their own arrangements if they were self-employed, or if their employer did not have an employer’s scheme.
If the person was getting a pension, or more than one, from a previous job or jobs, you should find out who is paying them. It might be an employer’s pension scheme or an insurance company. You should tell the representative from that scheme about the person’s death. Tell them if the person has a surviving husband, wife or civil partner or a dependent child or another dependent because they may be able to get a pension. If they already get a pension they may be able to get more money.
You should find out if there was any pension due to be paid when the person retired from their previous employers.
If you have problems, you can get help from the Pension Tracing Service.