Find a Will
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Find a Funeral Plan
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Claim Bereavement Support (or miss out on up to £9,800 – tax free!)
How much you can get and for how long: if you don’t have children, you can get a lump sum payment of £2,500 and monthly payments of £100 for up to 18 months.
If you have children or you’re pregnant, you can get a lump sum payment of £3,500 and monthly payments of £350 for up to 18 months.
You won’t have to pay tax on any of the payments, including the lump sum.
Your monthly payments won’t affect your other benefits. If you still have some of the lump sum left after a year, it could affect the amount of other benefits you can get.
You won’t be paid your Bereavement Support Payment if you’re given a prison sentence. If you’re on remand, your Bereavement Support Payment will stop but you’ll get any missed payments if you’re released.
If you reach State Pension age while you’re getting Bereavement Support Payment, you’ll stop getting the payments. You can claim your State Pension instead. You can check your State Pension age on GOV.UK.
When to apply
You should try and fill in the form within 3 months of your partner’s death to get the full amount of money. After 3 months, the DWP will count your application as late. You’ll lose one monthly payment for every month your application is late.
To get the lump sum, your application must reach the DWP within 12 months of your partner’s death. If your application arrives after 12 months, you won’t get the lump sum.
If your partner died before 9 February 2023 and you weren’t married or in a civil partnership
You can still get the full amount of Bereavement Support Payment that you’re entitled to. You must apply by 8 February 2024 to get all the payments.
How to apply
You can apply for Bereavement Support Payment by filling in a form or calling the Bereavement Service helpline.
You can download a Bereavement Support Payment claim form on GOV.UK or order one by calling your local Jobcentre Plus.
The Tell Us Once Service
When the death is registered, the registrar will explain the Tell Us Once service when you register the death (see local pages for contacts). They will either:
- complete the Tell Us Once service with you
- give you a unique reference number so you can use the service yourself online or by phone
The registrar will give you a number to call. This includes Relay UK if you cannot hear or speak on the phone. If you’re a British Sign Language (BSL) user, there’s a video relay service if you’re on a computer – find out how to use the service on mobile or tablet.Tell Us Once will notify:
- HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) – to deal with personal tax and to cancel benefits and credits, for example Child Benefit and tax credits
- Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) – to cancel benefits and entitlements, for example Universal Credit or State Pension
- Passport Office – to cancel a British passport
- Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) – to cancel a licence, remove the person as the keeper of up to 5 vehicles and end the vehicle tax
- the local council – to cancel Housing Benefit, Council Tax Reduction (sometimes called Council Tax Support), a Blue Badge, inform council housing services and remove the person from the electoral register
- Veterans UK – to cancel or update Armed Forces Compensation Scheme payments
- Social Security Scotland – to cancel benefits and entitlements from the Scottish Government, for example Scottish Child Payment
HMRC and DWP will contact you about the tax, benefits and entitlements of the person who died.Tell Us Once will also contact some public sector pension schemes so that they cancel future pension payments. They’ll notify:
- Armed Forces Pension Scheme
- NHS Pensions for NHS staff in England and Wales
- Scottish Public Pension Agency schemes for NHS staff, teachers, police and firefighters in Scotland
- Pension Protection Fund and Financial Assistance Scheme
- Local Government Pension Schemes (LGPS)
The Death Notification Service
Banks it can notify:
- Allica Bank
- Bank of Scotland
- Barclaycard
- Barclays
- Birmingham Midshires
- Cahoot
- Black Horse Finance
- Cater Allen
- CitiBank
- Clerical Medical
- Equiniti
- First Direct
- Halifax
- HSBC
- IDEM Servicing
- Intelligent Finance
- Leeds Building Society (NB. this does NOT include Leeds Permanent Building Society accounts)
- Lloyds Bank
- Lex Autolease
- M&S Bank
- Marsden Building Society
- MBNA
- Moorgate Loan Servicing
- Nationwide Building Society
- Natwest
- Paragon
- Rothesay
- Royal Bank of Scotland
- Santander
- Scottish Widows (incl. Scottish Widows Bank)
- Shawbrook Bank
- St. James’s Place
- The Mortgage Works
- UCB Home Loans Ltd
Insurance Services
- Bank of Scotland – Motor
- Bradford & Bingley Insurance – Home (Please note this does NOT include Bradford & Bingley mortgage accounts)
- Budget – Motor and Home
- Co-op Ecoinsurance – Motor
- Dial – Motor and Home
- Geoffrey – Motor
- Halifax – Motor
- Lloyds – Motor
- M&S – Motor
- Nutshell – Motor
- Post Office – Motor
- RAC – Motor and Home
- Santander – Motor and Home
- Zenith – Motor
DVLA
The Driver and Vehicle Licencening Agency needs to know about deceased persons Driving Licence and changes in ownership of vehicles.The Tell Us Once Service will alert the DVLA, but if it is not available in your area or you didn’t take advantage of it, then write to DVLA to tell them a driver has died. Include the person’s driving licence with your letter, if you have it.Your letter must include:
- your relationship to the person who died
- the date they died
- their name, address and date of birth
Send the letter to:
You do not need to send a death certificate.
Asset & Liability Searches.
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Unclaimed Assets Search
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Missing Heirs/ Beneficiaries
Click the link to go to page. See also missing beneficiary insurance.