Yes, additional State Pension inheritance can happen: a widow, widower or surviving civil partner may inherit part of SERPS or State Second Pension.
If your husband, wife or civil partner has died, part of their extra State Pension may be paid to you with your own, but only when the marriage, the dates and your age line up. GOV.UK says to ask the Pension Service what you can claim, and the short call-back form here arranges for an FCA-authorised adviser to explain how an inheritance would sit beside your other money, with no charge.
Can you inherit additional State Pension from a spouse?
Yes, sometimes. GOV.UK says: "If your spouse or civil partner dies, you may be able to inherit part of their Additional State Pension. Contact the Pension Service to check what you can claim and how." The Additional State Pension is not one pot. It is made up of three schemes, and which of them your partner built up decides what you can inherit:
- SERPS, the State Earnings-Related Pension Scheme, which ran from 1978 to 2002 and was built by being employed.
- State Second Pension, which replaced SERPS and ran from 2002 to 2016, built by being employed or claiming certain benefits.
- State Pension top up, an option from 12 October 2015 to 5 April 2017 for people who had reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016 and opted in.
A separate payment, the protected payment, applies if the person who died was on the new State Pension; it has its own section below. Whichever applies, you cannot inherit anything if you remarry or form a new civil partnership before you reach State Pension age. The sections that follow take the dates that decide the rest, what the percentages are, and what to do next.
Who qualifies: the marriage and State Pension age dates
Eligibility turns on when you married or formed your civil partnership, when each of you reached State Pension age, and when your partner died. The conditions differ for the basic State Pension and the new State Pension, so the route depends on which you are on. If you are unsure, new State Pension or basic State Pension explains the split.
If you reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016
GOV.UK says that if you reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016, "you may be able to inherit some of your spouse or civil partner’s State Pension when they die", including part of their Additional State Pension. One limit applies if you reached State Pension age before 6 April 2010: you cannot inherit your partner's Additional State Pension if they died before they reached their own State Pension age and after you reached yours. That limit does not apply if you are a woman who was married to a man, or to a woman who legally changed gender from male to female during your marriage.
If you are on the new State Pension
You get the new State Pension if you reached State Pension age on or after 6 April 2016. You will not get Additional State Pension of your own, but GOV.UK adds that "you might still be able to inherit Additional State Pension from your partner". Under the new State Pension rules, you might inherit part of your late partner's Additional State Pension if your marriage or civil partnership began before 6 April 2016 and one of these applies:
- your partner reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016; or
- they died before 6 April 2016 but would have reached State Pension age on or after that date.
If your partner reached State Pension age on or after 6 April 2016 and died on or after that date, a different route applies, the protected payment, covered below.
Two further limits apply when you reached State Pension age on or after 6 April 2016. You cannot inherit Additional State Pension if either your partner died on or after 6 April 2016 and reached (or would have reached) State Pension age on or after that date, or you started your marriage or civil partnership on or after 6 April 2016.
How much additional State Pension can you inherit?
Up to 50% of your partner's State Second Pension, and between 50% and 100% of their SERPS. For SERPS, the maximum depends on the date of death. If they died before 6 October 2002, you can inherit up to 100% of their SERPS pension. If they died on or after 6 October 2002, GOV.UK ties the maximum percentage of SERPS (and State Pension top up) to their date of birth:
| If your partner was a man, born | If your partner was a woman, born | Maximum inherited |
|---|---|---|
| 5 October 1937 or before | 5 October 1942 or before | 100% |
| 6 October 1937 to 5 October 1939 | 6 October 1942 to 5 October 1944 | 90% |
| 6 October 1939 to 5 October 1941 | 6 October 1944 to 5 October 1946 | 80% |
| 6 October 1941 to 5 October 1943 | 6 October 1946 to 5 October 1948 | 70% |
| 6 October 1943 to 5 October 1945 | 6 October 1948 to 5 July 1950 | 60% |
| 6 October 1945 and after | 6 July 1950 and after | 50% |
These are maximums, not what you will receive: the table caps the share, and the amount itself is based on your spouse's or civil partner's National Insurance contributions. There is a weekly ceiling as well, set out for people who also get Additional State Pension of their own: the maximum amount of Additional State Pension you can get is currently £230.54 a week, a limit that does not include State Pension top up. To see how an inherited share could sit with your own pensions, savings and any benefits, the form here takes a minute, and an FCA-authorised adviser then phones you to weigh that up, without charge.
The top up, and when you are paid before State Pension age
State Pension top up was possible between 12 October 2015 and 5 April 2017. If your partner died within 90 days of topping up, the top up should have been refunded to their estate, less any payments they had received, so you would not inherit it as part of their Additional State Pension.
GOV.UK says inherited Additional State Pension is paid "on top of your State Pension when you reach State Pension age". There is an exception for people receiving Widowed Parent's Allowance: you may inherit before State Pension age, but you stop receiving it if that allowance ends. You may receive it again at State Pension age if you were over 45 when you were entitled to the allowance, and if your Widowed Parent's Allowance or Bereavement Allowance ended before you were 55, you will receive less.
Inheriting a protected payment on the new State Pension
If your late partner was on the new State Pension, what you may inherit is half of their protected payment, not a share of SERPS. A protected payment is the extra a person keeps when their contributions to the Additional State Pension before 2016 meant the old rules would have paid them more than the new ones. It is added to the full rate of new State Pension, which is £241.30 a week in 2026/27, according to DWP.
GOV.UK says you inherit half of the protected payment if your marriage or civil partnership began before 6 April 2016 and your partner both reached State Pension age on or after 6 April 2016 and died on or after that date. It is paid with your State Pension. As a general rule, a protected payment rises each year in line with the Consumer Prices Index (CPI).
Different rules cover extra State Pension a partner built up by deferring. You may inherit part or all of it if they died while deferring or after claiming following a deferral, they reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016, and you were married or in the civil partnership when they died. That is a separate question, covered in State Pension lump sums and inheriting a deferred pension and, once published, what happens to a deferred State Pension on death.
Claiming it and what happens next
The route is to ask the Pension Service: contact the Pension Service on GOV.UK. You can also check what inheritance you might be entitled to based on your spouse's or civil partner's National Insurance contributions. If you are on the basic State Pension, you may be able to raise it using your partner's qualifying years when you do not already get the full basic rate, which DWP sets at £184.90 a week for 2026/27.
Whether a specific marriage and death date add up to a payment depends on your partner's record, and on how the Additional State Pension, any protected payment and your own rights interact. Tax and benefits matter here too: leave your number and an FCA-authorised adviser can ring back to set them beside whatever the Pension Service confirms.
Tax, benefits and what else a spouse's death can bring are separate topics. Our guides to tax on the State Pension, tax on a widow's pension, claiming a widow's pension, remarrying and a widow's pension and pension death benefits cover them, and the State Pension guide explains how the pension is built.
Questions people ask about inheriting State Pension
Can I inherit extra State Pension if I have remarried?
Not if you remarried, or formed another civil partnership, before you reached State Pension age. The bar appears in both the Additional State Pension and the new State Pension rules. Remarrying and a widow's pension covers other payments.
Can the new State Pension be inherited?
GOV.UK says the new State Pension is based on your own National Insurance record. What may pass to a widow, widower or surviving civil partner on top of it is a share of the Additional State Pension, half of a protected payment, or extra State Pension built up by deferring, each on the conditions above.
Does it matter whether my late spouse was a man or a woman?
For the SERPS percentage, the date of birth you use comes from a column for a man and a column for a woman, so the age bands differ. The pre-2010 limit above also has an exception for a woman married to a man, or to a woman who changed gender from male to female during the marriage. Otherwise the rules are written for any "spouse or civil partner".
Can I pass my State Pension to my children?
GOV.UK's inheritance guides are written for a surviving spouse or civil partner, and leaving private pensions to children is covered in pension death benefits. Where your own family's position is unclear, you can request a call-back from this page and an adviser will explain how it works, free of charge.
Is the inherited amount paid on top of my own State Pension?
Yes. Any Additional State Pension you inherit is paid on top of your State Pension once you reach State Pension age. If you also have Additional State Pension of your own, the weekly ceiling in the section on how much you can inherit applies, and people on Widowed Parent's Allowance have the earlier route described above.
Next step: check the dates, then ask
Gather your partner's date of birth and date of death, your marriage or civil partnership date and your own State Pension age. Those four facts decide most of what is above. Then contact the Pension Service to check what you can claim. MoneyHelper is another free place to ask, and Pension Wise covers any defined contribution pots. If you also want to see what the inheritance does to your overall income, tax and any benefits, the enquiry form is the quickest way to have an FCA-authorised adviser phone you about it, at no cost. For related reading, see Pension Credit after a death and how long a widow's pension lasts.