Bereavement

When a pension scheme member dies, their surviving family or dependants may be entitled to benefits. These could include a:

  • death benefit lump sum
  • widow’s or widower’s, child’s, partner’s or civil partner’s pension
  • payment of any pension that was due to be paid when the member died (also called ’balance of pension’)

What to do when a pension scheme member dies

  1. Let us know if someone has died.

    Use the Government’s Tell Us Once service or contact us  directly to tell us someone has died.
  2. Death Benefits and forms.

    We will check whether there are any death benefits payable and will send the relevant claim forms to the personal representative and anyone entitled to dependant's benefits.
  3. Complete and return forms to SPPA.

    Complete the forms and send them back to us with the documents requested. This can be by email. Details of what to include is on the form.
  4. Review forms and records.

    We will review your forms and if we need any more information to proceed, we will contact the relevant person.
  5. Payment.

    Once we receive any outstanding information, we will calculate and pay any benefits due. This usually takes around 8 weeks to finalise. If there is a balance of pension this may take longer.

1. Let us know if someone has died

If someone who has a pension with SPPA has died, we're here to help. 

If the person was already receiving their pension, please let us know as soon as possible, so that we can prevent overpayments and process any survivor benefits.

You can get in touch with our team by phoning 01896 893000

Or if you’d rather not speak to anyone, you can email us.

You can also use the UK Government’s Tell us Once service that let’s you tell most government organisations at the one time.

When you contact us, please have the following information to hand:

  • the deceased person’s name
  • their date of birth
  • their National Insurance number or pension reference number
  • details of any surviving spouse, partner or dependent children
  • contact details for the solicitor or executor dealing with the estate
  • We will also need a photocopy of the full death certificate which you can post or email to us.

2. Death Benefits and forms

We will check whether there are any death benefits payable and will send the relevant claim forms to the personal representative and anyone entitled to dependant's benefits.

3. Complete and return forms to us.

We will need a photocopy of the full death certificate if we have not already received this. You can send this to us by email or Use the Government’s Tell Us Once service. Details of what you need to include is on the application form.

4. Review forms and records

When we receive the information, we’ll stop any further payments and calculate any under or overpayment.

We’ll tell the solicitor or executor about any amounts due to be paid to or from the estate and issue a P60.

5. Payment

Once we receive any outstanding information, we will calculate and pay any benefits due. We will also calculate the amount of any partner /spouse and children’s benefits. This usually takes around 8 weeks to finalise.

If there is a balance of pension this may take longer.

Useful Information

There is information on death and bereavement available on the mygov.scot website to help you understand what to do when someone dies. 

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