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For families and executors

Finding a pension after someone has died.

If you are dealing with someone’s affairs, you may not know which pensions they had. This is the order to work in. All of it can be done without paying anyone.

  1. Tell the government once

    When you register the death, the registrar can give you access to Tell Us Once. It passes the news to government departments, including the one that pays the State Pension. It cannot contact private pension providers, so most workplace and private schemes still need to be told separately.

  2. Gather what they left

    Look for pension statements, letters from providers, payslips, P60s and bank statements showing pension payments in or out. A scheme name or a policy number on any of these is the quickest route.

  3. List where they worked

    If there is no paperwork, start with their employers. Each job is a possible pension. Rough dates are enough to begin.

  4. Find who runs each scheme

    The government’s free Pension Tracing Service gives contact details for a workplace or personal pension scheme from an employer or provider name. It does not say whether the person had a pension there. Only the scheme can.

  5. Write to each scheme

    Each scheme has to be told separately. Say who has died, when, and how you are connected to them. Ask what the scheme holds, what it needs from you, and how to send it securely. Most will ask for a copy of the death certificate.

  6. Ask each scheme how its rules work

    What is paid after a death, and to whom, depends on that scheme’s rules and on any wishes the member recorded with it. Schemes differ, so ask each one. Keep a dated note of every letter and reply.

Free help with the rest.MoneyHelper has free guides to what to do when someone dies and one on pensions after a death. For questions about tax or an estate, speak to a solicitor or a regulated adviser. We cannot advise on either.

Keeping track of it.

Our organiser lets you list each employer, note what you have sent and what has come back, and print a letter for each scheme. It is free, and what you enter stays in your browser.

Start a list See an example record

Doing this for yourself, ahead of time.

The search above is far shorter when someone has left a list. The last page of a Pension File is written for exactly that: where each pension is and who to contact.

About the Pension File

All Pensions is an organiser. We are not authorised or regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and this page is general information, not advice. Checked against GOV.UK and MoneyHelper on 13 October 2026.