Nominations

You can choose who you'd like to receive your NHS Pension benefits after you die.

This is called making a nomination, and it can:

give you the choice about who receives a lump sum after you die, if one's payable
speed up the process for your family or nominees

Who should make a nomination

If you’re married or in a registered civil partnership, we’ll automatically pay your pension benefits to your partner after you die. You only need to make a nomination if you’d like someone else to receive some or all of your pension benefits.

If you’re living with your partner, but you’re not married or in a registered civil partnership, you need to nominate your partner if you want them to receive your pension benefits. Eligible partners can receive both an adult dependant’s pension and a lump sum on death.

If you’re single, you can nominate someone to receive a lump sum on death.

Who you can nominate

You can nominate:

your partner to get an adult dependant's pension
one or more people to get a lump sum
an organisation to get a lump sum

You can change your nominations at any time. Any previous nominations will be replaced with your new choice.

It's important that you keep the details of your nominees up to date so they can be contacted after you die.

Adult dependant's pension nominations

If you’re married or in a registered civil partnership when you die, your partner is automatically eligible for an adult dependant’s pension.

If you’re living with your partner, but you’re not married or in a registered civil partnership, you can nominate your partner to receive an adult dependant’s pension.

To nominate your partner, you must:

have been living with them in an exclusive long-term relationship for at least 2 years
have been free to marry or enter a civil partnership with them for at least 2 years, but have not done so
either depend on each other financially - for example, you rely on your joint incomes - or your partner is financially dependent on you

If you have not nominated your partner, but you meet these criteria, your partner may still be eligible for an adult dependant's pension.

You cannot nominate someone to receive an adult dependant's pension if:

you stopped paying into your NHS Pension before 1 April 2008
you're a Pension Credit member only and have never paid into your own NHS Pension

The benefits payable to your nominated partner will depend on your circumstances when you die. You can find more information about this, and more details about the eligibility criteria, in our Family benefits and life assurance factsheet (PDF: 172KB).

Lump sum on death nominations

You can nominate someone to receive a lump sum on death when you die.

You can nominate:

one or more people
one organisation, such as a charity or a Trust

A lump sum on death is not payable if:

you've retired and been receiving pension payments for 5 years or longer
you die after you turn 75, any lump sum payable will incur tax charges before payment is made

Nominating one or more people

If you have not made a nomination and you're married, in a civil partnership or have a qualifying Scheme partner, your partner will automatically get 100% of your lump sum on death benefit.

If you want someone else to receive some or all of your lump sum, then you'll need to make a nomination.

If you're nominating more than one person, you can:

choose to give each person an equal share of the lump sum
decide what percentage of the lump sum each person should get - the total of the percentages must add up to 100%

You can only split your lump sum between people. You cannot split it between people and an organisation.

Nominating an organisation

You can only nominate one organisation, which must be:

a body corporate
an unincorporated body
your legal personal representatives

A body corporate must be a legal entity, including:

an association
a company
a person
the government
a government agency
an institution identified by a particular name

An unicorporated body can be:

a voluntary association or union, also known as a voluntary organisation, unicorporated assocoation, or an association
a group of individuals who enter into an agreement as volunteers to form a body or organisation to accomplish a purpose

Making a nomination

You can use My NHS Pension to make, change or delete your nominations online.

If you have not yet registered, our My NHS Pension page has information about how you can create an account and start managing your nominations online.

Your My NHS Pension account will display your new nominations straight away. Your Annual Benefit Statement (ABS) is updated every June. If you make a nomination after this update has been made, your nominations may not show on your ABS until the following June.

Completing a nomination form

If you do not have a My NHS Pension account, you can fill in a nominations form and post it to:

NHS Pensions
PO Box 683
Unit 5
Newcastle Upon Tyne
NE5 9EE

Adult dependant's pension nomination forms

You should complete:Partner nomination form (PN1) (PDF: 616KB)

Lump sum on death nomination forms

There are different lump sum on death nomination forms. Make sure you choose the one that’s right for your circumstances.

Check the guidance attached to each form before completing it and sending it to us. This is to make sure you’re completing the correct form.

If you have Scheme membership on or after 1 April 2008 you should complete the:

Lump sum on death benefit nomination (DB2) (PDF: 324KB)If your Scheme membership ended before 1 April 2008, you should complete the:

Lump sum on death benefit (DB1) (PDF: 372KB)

If you have a Pension Sharing Order (PSO)

A Pension Sharing Order (PSO) provides you with a share of your former husband, wife or civil partner’s NHS pension after a divorce or the dissolution of a civil partnership. If you get NHS pension benefits as the result of a PSO, the form you’ll need depends on when your PSO was implemented.

If your PSO was implemented before 1 April 2000, you should complete the: Lump sum on death benefit (DB1) (PDF: 372KB)If your PSO was implemented on or after 1 April 2000, you should complete the:Lump sum on death benefit nomination form (DB2 – PC) (PDF: 466KB)If you’re a Scheme member in your own right, as well as becoming a member through a PSO, you’ll need to complete 2 forms:

Lump sum on death benefit nomination (DB2) (PDF: 352KB) - this form is for the NHS Pension you paid into yourself
Lump sum on death benefit nomination form (DB2 – PC) (PDF: 466KB) - this form is for the NHS Pension relating to your PSO

If you only submit one form, we can only update your nomination information for the pension that form relates to.

Making a change to your nominations

You can change an existing nomination at any time:

using My NHS Pension
by sending us a new form

If you have already made a nomination, your new choice will replace your old one.

If you would like to remove all of your nominations completely, you can:

delete them in My NHS Pension
complete the Existing nomination cancellation form (PDF: 332KB) if your Scheme membership started on or after 1 April 2008, or continued after 31 March 2008