To notify Teachers' Pensions of a death, the beneficiary completes its death-notification form or phones its Contact Centre. Scotland has a separate team.

Losing a teacher in the family brings a long list of calls and forms, and telling the pension scheme is one of them. If the death leaves you unsure what the household will live on, an FCA-authorised adviser can return your call, free, at a time that suits, when this page's form is sent with your contact number.

How to tell Teachers' Pensions about a death

For the Teachers' Pension Scheme in England and Wales, Teachers' Pensions' death benefits factsheet (January 2026) says: "Your beneficiary should inform us of the death, by either completing our form, or calling our Contact Centre on 0345 606 6166 (8.30am-6.00pm, Monday to Friday)." The form is called the Application for death benefits, and the same factsheet says it "should be completed in all cases, even if it’s thought that there aren’t any benefits to pass on."

The member's own page on death in service also carries a "Complete our form to inform us of a death" link and points relatives to a dedicated Relatives and advisors hub on the Teachers' Pensions website. Teachers' Pensions has been moving its administration to a new administrator, so phone numbers, forms and addresses can change. Before you post anything, the Teachers' Pensions website will show the current way to reach the team.

Teachers in Scotland belong to different schemes run by the Scottish Public Pensions Agency (SPPA); those are covered below.

Who can report the death, and what to have ready

The factsheet puts the job with the beneficiary, who may be a spouse, civil partner, qualifying partner or someone the teacher nominated. If you are the executor or another relative and are unsure whether the call is yours to make, ask the Contact Centre who they need to hear from.

For teachers in Scotland, SPPA asks callers to have ready the person's name, date of birth and National Insurance number or pension reference number, details of any surviving spouse, partner or dependent children, contact details for the solicitor or executor, and a photocopy of the full death certificate, which you can post or email. Teachers' Pensions can tell you what it wants sent with its own form.

GOV.UK's Tell Us Once service has its own rule on permission: you need it from any surviving spouse or civil partner, the next of kin or the executor before you give their details to government organisations.

When payments start, and stopping the old ones

For a teacher who died in service, Teachers' Pensions says that "Once Teachers’ Pensions has received and processed an application form for Death Benefits" an adult beneficiary is paid a short-term pension, so the form is the step that starts the money moving. How long your own case will take is something the scheme can tell you once it has the form.

If the person was already drawing a pension, the sooner the scheme knows the better. GOV.UK says: "If they were getting pension payments, contact the provider as soon as possible to avoid having to make repayments." A payment can still reach the bank before the news does. Where it does, the scheme may ask for it back, and the family should not feel they did anything wrong. What happens to a pension overpayment after death explains how that conversation usually goes and who is asked to repay.

For the state benefits the teacher may have received, including the State Pension, the DWP Bereavement Service is on 0800 151 2012, Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm. GOV.UK says it will "cancel the person’s benefits and entitlements, including their State Pension" and check whether you are eligible for help with funeral costs or other benefits. See also Pension Credit after a death.

If the teacher was in a Scottish scheme

The Scottish Teachers' Superannuation Scheme and the Scottish Teachers' Pension Scheme sit with SPPA, not Teachers' Pensions. SPPA asks anyone reporting a death to phone its Bereavement Team on 01896 893000, Monday to Thursday 9am to 5pm and Friday 9am to 1.30pm. If you would rather not speak to anyone, it offers bereavementsteam@gov.scot, or the Tell Us Once service.

Once SPPA has everything it needs, it says it will stop further payments, calculate any under or overpayment and pay anything due. It says this "usually takes around eight weeks" and that it will tell you if more time is needed.

GOV.UK says Tell Us Once contacts public sector schemes including "Scottish Public Pension Agency schemes for NHS staff, teachers, police and firefighters in Scotland".

What the family may be able to claim

Notifying the scheme is only the first step. The benefits themselves, a death grant plus survivor pensions for a spouse, partner or children, depend on whether the teacher was working, had left or had retired, and are set out in Teachers' Pension death benefits. A nominated partner is dealt with in how to complete a pension nomination form, and the wider picture for other pensions is in what happens to a pension when someone dies. If a spouse is left on a low income, how to claim a widow's pension covers the State Pension side.

Please do not delay telling the scheme because you are unsure whether anything is payable. The factsheet's advice is to complete the form regardless.

Tell Us Once and the other organisations to contact

GOV.UK describes Tell Us Once as a way to report a death to most government organisations in one go. A registrar gives you a reference number, and "You must use the service within 28 days of getting your unique reference number." GOV.UK's list of public sector pension schemes it contacts does not name the Teachers' Pension Scheme in England and Wales, so contact Teachers' Pensions directly as above rather than assuming it has been done. Banks, private pensions and savings need separate contact.

Bereavement team, email and certificates: quick answers

Can I report a teacher's death by email?

For England and Wales, the January 2026 factsheet points families to the notification form or the Contact Centre; the Teachers' Pensions website will say whether an email route is open. In Scotland, SPPA gives bereavementsteam@gov.scot for anyone who would rather not phone.

Do I need to send a death certificate?

SPPA asks for a photocopy of the full death certificate. For England and Wales, the notification paperwork itself is the place to check what to enclose.

Is it too late if I have already waited a few months?

Tell the scheme as soon as you can and say plainly how long it has been. The overpayment page linked above explains what may follow, and Teachers' Pensions or SPPA will tell you what applies to your case.

Who is the Teachers' Pensions bereavement team for a teacher who worked in Scotland?

That is SPPA's Bereavement Team, not Teachers' Pensions. Its number and opening hours are in the Scotland section above.

Nothing about the pension needs deciding today. Once you have the energy to think about money for the months ahead, from survivor pensions to other pots and the State Pension, an FCA-authorised adviser can ring after you add your name and a number to the short form on this page.

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