How to claim a widow's pension and is it automatic?

How to claim a widow's pension: there is no single claim, so the steps depend on whether the money comes from the State, a pension scheme or both.

Losing a husband, wife or partner brings a long list of forms, and it helps to know which ones are really yours to complete. Most of it can wait a little, though two things are worth doing early: telling any pension scheme that was paying your partner, and, if you are under State Pension age, claiming Bereavement Support Payment within 3 months. Some weeks on, when thinking about your own income feels manageable, the form on this page remains open to you; through it an FCA-authorised adviser can ring, free and unhurried, to look at where your income now stands.

How do I claim a widow's pension, and is it paid automatically?

What people call a widow's pension is usually one of three separate things, and each is claimed in a different place. Most of them are not paid unless someone asks.

• Bereavement Support Payment, from the DWP. It is the State's payment for people whose partner has died, and it has to be claimed.
• A survivor's pension from the scheme your partner belonged to through work or a personal plan. You normally deal with the scheme directly.
• Extra State Pension from your partner's record, which only some surviving spouses and civil partners can inherit.

The old State widow's pension has gone. GOV.UK says Bereavement Support Payment has replaced "Bereavement Allowance (previously Widow’s Pension)" along with Widowed Parent's Allowance and Bereavement Payment. The registrar's Tell Us Once service does not claim any of these for you: it tells government that a death has happened, and GOV.UK explains that "DWP can only stop the benefits of the person who has died."

Claiming a survivor's pension from your partner's workplace or personal scheme

Start by finding out which schemes there were. If you have no paperwork, GOV.UK's pension contact details service gives contact details for "someone else’s scheme if you have their permission", but it cannot confirm that a pension exists, nor what it is worth. The Pension Tracing Service takes calls on 0800 731 0175, Monday to Friday, 10am to 3pm. Tracing a late partner's pensions goes through the search step by step.

Public sector schemes are slightly different. Tell Us Once passes a death on to some of them, so they stop future payments, but GOV.UK says you contact other personal or workplace schemes yourself. Scheme-by-scheme detail is on separate pages for the NHS Pension Scheme, armed forces pensions, Teachers' Pensions, the Civil Service pension, the Local Government Pension Scheme and police pensions.

MoneyHelper's guide (archived copy of 10 July 2025) says that if the person who died was already drawing a pension, "it’s important to tell the pension scheme as soon as possible", because you might have to pay back anything received after the death. If they had not started drawing it, contact the providers for every scheme they belonged to. A pension is not normally covered by the will, so you can usually deal with the provider directly, and it may be possible for benefits to be paid before probate starts.

What the scheme will want to see

MoneyHelper says "The pension provider will tell you what paperwork they need to pay out any benefits". Expect to be asked for the death certificate and for proof of who you are; an executor's details or the will may also be requested. Keep a note of each call, with the date and the name of the person you spoke to.

Being named on a nomination form is not a guarantee. In most schemes the provider or trustees can choose who is paid, and MoneyHelper's guide to pensions after death says: "They’ll usually choose those listed on your expression of wish form, but they do not have to." Nominee and beneficiary explains the difference, and who can be named covers the wider rules.

How much a survivor's pension pays, and whether it stops if you marry again, comes from the rules of that particular scheme, so ask the scheme to set out what applies to you in writing.

Applying for Bereavement Support Payment

GOV.UK says "You can apply for Bereavement Support Payment online, by telephone or by post." You will need your National Insurance number, your bank or building society details, the date your partner died and your partner's National Insurance number. The Bereavement Service helpline is 0800 151 2012, Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm. A paper claim uses form BSP1, which you can download or ask the helpline to send. If you are abroad, the International Pension Centre takes the claim, and Northern Ireland has its own phone and postal routes.

Timing matters for the amount. GOV.UK says "You usually need to make a claim within 21 months of your partner’s death", and a claim within 3 months is needed for the one-off payment and all 18 monthly payments. After 3 months but before 12 you can still get the one-off payment with fewer monthly ones. Between 12 and 21 months the one-off payment is lost, though some monthly payments can still be made; after 21 months you usually cannot get any payments, unless the cause of death was only recently confirmed, when GOV.UK says to call the Bereavement Service helpline.

The amount depends on your situation. The most you can get at the lower rate is a one-off payment of £2,500 plus 18 monthly payments of £100. The higher rate, for people who were getting or entitled to Child Benefit for a child living with them or were pregnant, is a one-off payment of £3,500 and 18 monthly payments of £350. If you were living together as if married, you can claim only if, when your partner died, you were getting or entitled to Child Benefit for a child who lived with you, or were pregnant (unless you are applying for a backdated payment); the most you can then get is the higher rate. All of it is paid into a bank, building society or credit union account. If you reach State Pension age within 18 months of your partner's death, you may get fewer monthly payments.

To qualify, when your partner died you must have been under State Pension age, living in the UK or a country that pays bereavement benefits, and married to them, in a civil partnership or living together as if married. Your partner must have paid a certain amount of Class 1 or Class 2 National Insurance contributions in any one tax year since 6 April 1975, or have died because of an accident at work or a disease caused by work. It is not means-tested, so your savings do not reduce it. You can still apply if you are unsure that your partner paid enough National Insurance: GOV.UK says the Bereavement Service will let you know. For how the payments are treated when you claim other benefits, see is a widow's pension means-tested, and for the length of the payments see how long a widow's pension lasts.

Can I claim a widow's pension if I am over State Pension age?

Bereavement Support Payment requires you to have been under State Pension age when your partner died, so it is not available to someone who had already reached it. What may be open to you instead is some of your late spouse's State Pension. MoneyHelper says that "in certain cases, your married or civil partner might be able to inherit some of your State Pension", and that "It’s not possible for anyone other than a spouse or civil partner to inherit a State Pension."

GOV.UK explains that what you can inherit depends on when you and your spouse or civil partner reached State Pension age, and its online tool asks for both dates. The extra State Pension rules for people who reached pension age before 6 April 2016 are set out in inheriting additional State Pension, and the main page on the State Pension covers the basics. If you already receive Pension Credit, Pension Credit after a death covers what to tell DWP.

Fitting a survivor's pension, any State Pension increase and your own pensions together is easier in one unhurried talk, and the enquiry form here brings an FCA-authorised adviser to the phone for exactly that, free.

When is a widow's pension paid, and what if it is late?

Bereavement Support Payment arrives as a one-off sum followed by monthly payments, all into your account. Scheme survivor pensions follow each scheme's own pay dates and processes, so the timing differs from one scheme to the next. If the first payment is slow, contact the payer, quote any reference they gave you, and keep your notes.

Tax on what you are paid is in is a widow's pension taxable, and working while you receive one and remarriage have their own pages.

Common worries when claiming a widow's pension

Is there a widow's pension application form?

For Bereavement Support Payment it is form BSP1, or you can claim online or by phone. Each pension scheme has its own forms, which it sends or points you to once you have told it about the death.

Can I apply for a widow's pension online?

Bereavement Support Payment can be claimed online on GOV.UK. Whether a scheme takes survivor claims online depends on the scheme, so ask it which routes it accepts.

When can I apply for a widow's pension?

There is no reason to wait for a Bereavement Support Payment claim: a claim made within 3 months of the death attracts the full payments. For a scheme, you can tell it about the death straight away, and MoneyHelper encourages doing so early.

Is a widow's pension backdated?

For Bereavement Support Payment, a later claim usually means fewer payments rather than a full set paid late, as the claiming windows above show. For a scheme survivor's pension, whether it runs from the date of death is a question for the scheme.

Do I get a widow's pension automatically if my husband or wife dies?

Not in the sense of money arriving unasked. Bereavement Support Payment has to be claimed, and a scheme will normally want to hear from you and see its paperwork before paying a survivor's pension.

How often is a widow's pension paid?

Bereavement Support Payment is a one-off payment plus monthly payments. A scheme pension follows the scheme's own pay schedule, which you can ask the scheme to confirm.

Looking at your income afterwards

There is no hurry. Whenever the time feels right, a talk about your pensions and other income with an FCA-authorised adviser can happen by phone, at your pace and with no fee, if you ask by the form on this page.