Tracing deceased persons pension

[Beach1983]

Hi, I’ve been going through some old paperwork before we move house and I suddenly realised when I found some of my own pension bits that I don’t remember dealing with any potential pensions when my mum died 8 years ago.

She had worked for a big bank before she died (had already taken early retirement when she passed) so assuming she had a pension with them but how do I go about tracing it and is there any point this long after she died? When I search for the bank on DWP pension tracing site there are about 20 potential pension funds with individual contact details - will I just have to write to them all?

Is it even worth it 8 years down the line?

If she worked at a bank it’s likely she had a DB pension. These end after the person dies unless they leave a dependent spouse or child in FTE

If she had already taken early retirement the pension would have been in payment so something must have been done to stop the payments.

Or do you mean that she had finished working but not started getting pension payments yet?

It might be worth trying to contact them because depending how long her pension had been in payment there might still have been some due - for example the scheme I was in guaranteed payments for 10 years so if you died after say 5 years there would be a lump sum of 5 years worth of pension to be paid out. That might still be due if it applies in your mum’s case but it will depend on the scheme rules and how long she had been retired. There might also be tax to pay on any payment due to the time elapsed.

Unfortunately you might have to contact them all and it might be a lot of effort for no return so you will need to decide whether you think it’s worth it.

Hi with some knowledge of pensions, depending on when she received her last payment and date of death there could be a residue or overpayment due/owed to the estate.

I would contact the employer and see if they can provide any information to you. Give full name, DOB, Nation Insurance number, retirement date (if known) and last address.

They should be able to provide the pension provider and then you can contact them and supply the same details and date of death and they can check if anything is due.

I hope this helps! xx

Thank you for the replies! I will try contacting her employer and see if they can help!

I may have done all this 8 years ago but it was a difficult time and had a lot to deal with in terms of selling house etc so my
memory isn’t the best!

That's understandable. We have a lot of family members contact us years down the line as there is so much to sort when a loved one passed away. Let alone deal with grief as well. They will completely understand.

When you do contact the employer and pension provider, make sure you include all your Mums personal details to save going back and forth and make the ordeal as quick as possible for you.

Sorry for your loss hope you get it sorted xx