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Death in service payments: how the money reaches your family
Death in service payments go through the scheme's trustees.
The benefit is a tax-free cash sum, payable at the trustees' discretion (Legal & General ↗).
This page follows the money from the claim to the family, and explains who decides and where probate fits.
Every claim here is our summary of a named external source, linked beside it. Sources change: check the wording at the link before you rely on it.
How are death in service payments made?
The insurer pays the trustees, and the trustees pay the family.
Canada Life's published process is a clear example: a trustee, or someone authorised to sign for them, makes the claim; Canada Life aims to give a decision within five working days; it pays the trustees' bank account, and the trustees then pay the beneficiaries (Canada Life ↗).
Canada Life adds that in some cases it can pay the employee's family or dependants directly (Canada Life ↗).
Other insurers publish their own processes.
Claim
The trustees claim
A trustee, or someone authorised to sign for them, sends the insurer the claim form.
Decide
The insurer decides
Canada Life aims to give a decision within five working days.
Pay
The insurer pays the trustees
Into the trustees’ bank account; sometimes directly to the family.
Distribute
The trustees pay the beneficiaries
Guided by the employee’s nomination, at their discretion.
Canada Life's own group life claims process (Canada Life ↗); trustees' discretion (Legal & General ↗).
What group life paid families across the market: GRiD's 2025 claims figures (GRiD ↗).
Who decides who gets the payment?
The trustees.
Legal & General says the benefit is payable at their discretion, taking into account who you asked to receive it (Legal & General ↗), and Royal London says they have the final say even if you nominated someone (Royal London ↗).
MoneyHelper says trustees usually follow an expression of wish form, but do not have to (MoneyHelper ↗).
Is the payment included in probate?
Not usually.
MoneyHelper says that where trustees have discretion, pensions are not covered by any will, so you do not need to wait for probate (MoneyHelper ↗).
Are death in service payments taxed?
Usually not: Legal & General says death in service payments aren't usually subject to Income Tax or Inheritance Tax (Legal & General ↗).
The table shows where the rules differ between a registered scheme and an excepted policy.
What a death in service claim needs
The trustees complete the insurer's claim form, and each insurer asks for different things: the card shows two examples.
The employer or scheme administrator can tell the family what its insurer needs.
Canada Life
- The insurer's claim form, signed for the trustees
- An original marriage certificate from the employee's partner
- Original birth certificates for the partner or any dependants
- For some trust types, a family information form
Canada Life's list for its own group life claims (Canada Life ↗).
Zurich
- A call or an email to its claims team notifies a claim (Zurich ↗)
- It usually does not need to see the death certificate, because it has access to the online death registry (Zurich ↗)
More on death in service, by question
The rest of the guide series, for employees and for employers.
- Start here
Death in service
What it is, how much it pays and how it is taxed.
Read the guide → - Calculator
Death in service calculator
Your salary times your scheme’s multiple, with the tax checks.
Read the guide → - For employees
Death in service benefit
How much it pays, who gets it, the NHS scheme and benefit in kind.
Read the guide → - For employers
Death in service insurance
The policy behind the benefit, and the scheme types.
Read the guide → - For employers
Group life insurance
One policy for the workforce, compared with relevant life.
Read the guide → - For employers
Group life insurance cost
What drives the premium, and the examples a broker publishes.
Read the guide →
Check it for yourself
Every claim on this page is our summary of one of the documents listed here.
We last checked them against the live sources on 28 September 2026.
The documents are the authority, not this page.
Insurers and HMRC update them, so validate any figure or condition at its link before you rely on it.
- Canada Life: group life insurance claims ↗Who claims, what it asks for, and how it pays the trustees
- Legal & General: death in service v life insurance ↗Tax-free cash sum payable at the trustees’ discretion
- Zurich Corporate Risk: group life insurance claims ↗How Zurich takes group life claims, and when it needs a death certificate
- Royal London: death in service benefit, is it enough? ↗Nominations, trustees’ final say, and when the benefit is lost
- MoneyHelper: pensions help after someone’s death ↗Expression of wish forms, trustee discretion, the age-75 rule and probate
- NHS Business Services Authority: benefits payable on death ↗The NHS Pension Scheme lump sum on death in service, and nominations
- GRiD: group risk claims paid in 2025 ↗Group life claims, value paid and average claim for 2025
- GOV.UK: Inheritance Tax on unused pension funds and death benefits ↗Death in service benefits from registered schemes stay outside the estate from 6 April 2027
- Legal & General: relevant life and excepted group life policies ↗What an excepted group life policy is, the allowance and discretionary trust charges
- HMRC Inheritance Tax Manual, IHTM17092 ↗Excepted group life trusts and the first ten years
- HMRC Pensions Tax Manual, PTM172000 ↗The lump sum and death benefit allowance, and the marginal-rate charge on the excess
Death in service payments, answered
Not financial advice. This page is general information. Before buying insurance, the FCA tells consumers to check the firm on its Firm Checker (FCA ↗). For free guidance, see MoneyHelper.