A pension nominee is someone you name; a beneficiary is whoever the scheme actually pays. Most UK schemes treat a nomination as a wish, not an order.
Anyone weighing up pension nominee vs beneficiary is really asking two things: who can I name, and will that person get the money? In everyday speech the words blur together. In the tax rules and in scheme rulebooks they do not, and the gap between naming someone and being paid is where most family surprises start.
Where your own scheme's wording matters, an FCA-authorised adviser can telephone you if you send a few lines through the form on this page. It costs nothing and takes a minute or two. The general picture comes first below. For the wider subject of what happens to a pension on death, start with the pension death benefits guide.
Dependant, nominee, successor and beneficiary: who is who
HMRC's Pensions Tax Manual uses "beneficiary" as an umbrella: "a beneficiary may be any of a dependant, a nominee or a successor". The Finance Act 2004 (Schedule 28) gives each of those three a separate meaning, and the meaning decides which kind of payment is allowed.
| Tax label | Who it covers | Where defined |
|---|---|---|
| Dependant | A spouse or civil partner at the date of death; a child under 23, or an older child dependent through physical or mental impairment in the scheme administrator's opinion; and anyone else the administrator judges was financially dependent on the member, in a relationship of mutual dependence, or dependent through impairment | Schedule 28, paragraph 15 |
| Nominee | An individual chosen by the member, or by the scheme administrator, who is not a dependant | Schedule 28, paragraph 27A |
| Successor | An individual chosen by a dependant, a nominee or an earlier successor (or, if that person named no one, by the scheme administrator) to receive what is left after that person dies | Schedule 28, paragraph 27F |
"Partner" and "survivor" are not among Schedule 28's labels. A husband, wife or civil partner at the date of death is a dependant by law. An unmarried partner is a dependant only if the administrator concludes there was financial dependence, mutual dependence or dependence through physical or mental impairment; otherwise the partner can still be paid as a nominee if named. A dependant cannot be a nominee at the same time, and only an individual can be one, so a charity or a trust is not a nominee (see leaving a pension to a trust).
The manual adds a warning for anyone reading a scheme booklet: schemes "may have their own definition of who can be a dependant", but the tax definition is the one that decides whether a payment is authorised.
Nominating is asking: what a scheme must and need not do
"Nomination" and "expression of wish" usually describe the same act: telling the provider or trustees who you would like to receive your pension after you die. MoneyHelper says this is often done on an expression of wish form. What matters is whether the scheme treats the form as binding, and the usual answer is no. HMRC's Inheritance Tax Manual says most UK schemes let members name people, but those nominations are generally not binding: they are letters of wishes recording what the member would like.
The practical effect is that a nominated person is the scheme's starting point, not its obligation: providers mostly follow the wishes they hold but usually keep the last word, and the death benefits guide covers what beneficiaries are told.
Some schemes work the other way, using what MoneyHelper calls "direction", where they "must pay any death benefits to the people you nominate". HMRC notes that a binding nomination is "most often seen" in non-UK schemes and some statutory schemes. Your scheme rules should say which applies; if you cannot tell from the form, ask the provider in writing.
Two limits sit on top of any nomination. First, other rules can limit the form: a dependant's pension, for example, can usually go only to a partner or to children up to age 23. Second, GOV.UK says a defined benefit pension can usually be paid only to a dependant; paying anyone else, where the rules allow it, is taxed at up to 55% as unauthorised. For how to complete the paperwork itself, see filling in an expression of wish; for who can be named at all, who can be a pension beneficiary.
Why discretion keeps the money outside your estate
The reason a non-binding nomination matters beyond the family is inheritance tax. HMRC's manual explains that if the provider must comply with a member's nomination of who receives a lump sum, or the member can create a situation where the provider has no choice but to follow their instruction, the member holds a "general power" and the benefit counts as part of the estate. Where the provider has discretion, and the member could not have created a situation that removed it, the death benefit stays outside it, whichever person the provider picks and however closely it keeps to the nomination, even if it chooses to pay the estate. The manual describes discretion as the most common arrangement, which is why GOV.UK tells beneficiaries they do not usually pay inheritance tax on a lump sum because payment is usually discretionary, and to ask the provider whether theirs was.
That is a trade-off rather than a flaw. The scheme's freedom to depart from your nomination is the feature that keeps the pot outside the estate. A binding route gives certainty about who is paid, but under the rule just described it can bring the death benefit into the estate. Neither is right for everyone, and the choice is often limited by what the scheme offers.
This describes the position for deaths before 6 April 2027. The Finance Act 2026 changes the test: section 66 inserts a new section 150A into the Inheritance Tax Act 1984, treating a member as beneficially entitled just before death to what it calls "notional pension property", and section 71 applies the change to deaths on or after 6 April 2027. How that works, and what the Act leaves out, is in pensions and inheritance tax.
Whether this matters to your family turns on the size of the estate, the scheme's wording and the date of death: the points an FCA-authorised adviser would ask about first, and the form on this page has room for each.
What a nominee can receive: flexi-access drawdown
Nominee status matters most for one route. HMRC's manual says the only benefits payable to someone in their capacity as a nominee are a nominee's annuity and nominee's drawdown pension. A lump sum is different: the tax rules set no conditions on who can receive an uncrystallised funds lump sum death benefit, although the scheme's own rules may.
Schedule 28 defines nominee's income withdrawal as an amount, other than an annuity, that the nominee is entitled to be paid "from the nominee's flexi-access drawdown fund". The nominee starts by designating sums and assets in a money purchase arrangement as available for drawdown. Under HMRC's guidance, flexi-access drawdown sets no minimum or maximum a beneficiary must or can take in a tax year, and there is no lower or upper age limit.
The conditions that catch people out:
- A scheme is not obliged to pay a beneficiary through drawdown, and HMRC notes that many do not offer it.
- Defined benefit arrangements cannot pay drawdown pension of any form.
- A designation takes effect only if the scheme is capable of paying income withdrawal; telling the scheme is not enough.
The same rules let someone the nominee names (a successor) inherit what is left in the fund. Mechanics are in beneficiary flexi-access drawdown, tax in how inherited pensions are taxed, and the next generation in what happens when a beneficiary dies. Money left invested can fall as well as rise in value, so a nominee may get back less than the pot held at the date of death.
Gaps: no nomination, a nominee who has died, a conflicting will
Where nobody valid is named, Schedule 28 lets the scheme administrator nominate an individual, but only while there is no dependant and no individual or charity nominated by the member. So the administrator's nominee is a fallback, not a rival to yours. MoneyHelper advises checking "what would happen if you do not nominate someone": at Nest, it says, the pot normally becomes part of the estate if no form is completed. See what happens when no beneficiary is named.
A named person may not be the one paid: GOV.UK notes that a provider can pay someone else, for example if the nominated person cannot be found or has died. A will does not reliably settle the matter either. Where the scheme has discretion, the trustees or provider decide, using the nomination as a guide. It is worth keeping a nomination up to date when life changes: a marriage, a divorce, a new child or the death of someone named. Disputes after death are covered in contesting a pension beneficiary decision, and children specifically in naming a child.
An annuity follows its own rule: it pays out only to the people named when it was set up. See annuity death benefits.
Nominee, beneficiary and expression of wish: questions people ask
Is a pension nomination the same as an expression of wish?
In practice the terms are often interchangeable, and many forms carry both. The difference that matters is not the name but whether the scheme treats the form as binding or as guidance for its decision. Read the scheme's death benefit rules, or ask the provider.
Is a pension beneficiary the same as the person named in my will?
Not necessarily. A pension is paid under the scheme's rules, usually at the discretion of the trustees or provider, and the nomination form is the main guide. Your will governs the rest of your estate; it should not be assumed to direct the pension.
Can my partner be both a dependant and a nominee?
No. Under Schedule 28 a nominee is someone who is not a dependant, so a partner who qualifies as a dependant is treated as one. An unmarried partner who does not meet the dependant test can still be named as a nominee.
Will a nominee pay tax on what they receive?
It depends on the kind of payment and your age at death. That is the subject of inherited pension tax.
What about an NHS or other public scheme?
Public schemes have their own forms and rules; for the NHS see the NHS pension nomination form, and for the position after a death at work, workplace pension death benefits.
Your next step
Naming someone is only half the job. How the scheme will treat the name, and what follows for tax, depends on your pots and your family. Two lines about each, placed in the form on this page, give an FCA-authorised adviser enough to ring you about. The scheme's death benefit rules, and the provider itself, are the other places to look.
Sources, read 20 October 2026: Finance Act 2004 Sch 28 para 15, 27A, 27D and 27F; Finance Act 2026 s66 and s71; HMRC Pensions Tax Manual PTM071200, PTM071300, PTM072410 and PTM073200; HMRC Inheritance Tax Manual IHTM17052 and IHTM17030; GOV.UK, Tax on a private pension you inherit; MoneyHelper, What happens to my pension when I die? (read via the Internet Archive, snapshot of 26 July 2026).