Death Benefit Nomination (DBN)

• Making a nomination
• Death benefit nominations by pension scheme
• Death benefit payable overview
• Completing a death benefit nomination form
• Claiming death benefits

The number of beneficiaries you can nominate will depend upon the pension scheme that you are in:  

classic pension scheme:

• You can only nominate one person or organisation

alpha, nuvos, premium and classic plus: 

• You can choose as many nominees as you want
• You also decide how to split the lump sum between your nominees 
• You are also able to nominate a charity, organisation or business. 

You can check your existing nomination on the Pension Portal and your Annual Benefit Statement (ABS). 

2015 Remedy (McCloud)

• For classic members moved to alpha on 1 April 2022: they are now able to make a nomination in favour of more than one individual so they can update/ make a new nomination if they would like to.
• Post rollback: Any members who have been rolled back into classic and had made a nomination for death benefit whilst in alpha (for more than one individual), this is valid for the Remedy period service and no action is required to update previous nominations. 

No Nominations

If we do not hold a valid nomination for you, we will pay your lump sum benefit to your personal representative(s). This is the person or people who deal with your financial matters after your death. 

A death benefit lump sum does not form part of your estate. The amount payable to your nominees will depend on your employment circumstances upon your death:  

If you’re still working: 

• The lump sum payable is at least 2 years’ salary 
• It is not payable if you have partially retired or you’re already in receipt of a pension from the scheme. 

If you’ve left, retired, partially retired or are taking other Civil Service pension benefits:

• The lump sum is worked out differently from the description above. Find out more information in the scheme guides.  

To ensure that we have the correct information required when arranging your Death Benefit Nomination, please check the following before submitting your form:    

• If you’re in classic, have you nominated only one nominee? 
• Does the percentage of lump sum allocated to each of your nominees add up to 100%? 
• Have you signed and dated your form? 
• Has a witness signed and dated your form on the same date you signed and dated it? 
• If printing the form, have you used black ink and CAPITAL letters? 
• Have you included your name, address and National Insurance number? 

REMEMBER: Keep your death benefit nominee’s details up to date with us, so we can get in touch with them quickly in the event of your death.