What a State Pension can pass on when a husband, wife or civil partner dies

When a husband, wife or civil partner dies, the State Pension of the person left behind sometimes changes and sometimes does not. The answer rests on a handful of dates, and most of them were fixed long ago.

In the weeks after a death, paperwork tends to arrive in piles. The State Pension is usually one of the quieter parts: often the Pension Service adjusts it without being asked, and sometimes nothing changes at all. This article sets out the 2026/27 rules on what can pass from one partner to the other.

Two systems, one dividing date

People who reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016 get the basic State Pension, often with an Additional State Pension on top; those who reached it later get the new State Pension. For 2026/27 the full new State Pension is £241.30 a week and the full basic State Pension is £184.90 a week.

Under the old system a surviving partner can often use the late partner’s National Insurance record. Under the new system the link is much narrower and depends mainly on when the couple married.

If you reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016

If you do not already get the full basic State Pension of £184.90 a week, GOV.UK says you may be able to use your late partner’s qualifying years to raise it.

You may also inherit part of your partner’s Additional State Pension or Graduated Retirement Benefit. If your partner bought extra State Pension with a voluntary top-up between 12 October 2015 and 5 April 2017, part or all of that may also pass to you.

GOV.UK states that most people get the increase automatically once the death has been reported.

Inheriting Additional State Pension

For the State Second Pension, the part built up from April 2002, you can inherit up to 50%. For the older SERPS part, the limit depends on your partner’s date of birth if they died on or after 6 October 2002; before that date it was 100%.

Source: GOV.UK, Additional State Pension, inheriting. As an illustration only: if a husband born in 1944 had SERPS of £40.00 a week (an invented figure), the most his widow could inherit from that part would be 60%, or £24.00 a week.

You cannot inherit Additional State Pension if you remarry or form a new civil partnership before reaching State Pension age yourself.

If you are on the new State Pension

Under the new State Pension, you generally cannot use your partner’s record to raise your own pension. What can be inherited is narrower.

• A protected payment. This is the amount some people get above the full new State Pension because of their earlier record. You can inherit half of it if your marriage or civil partnership began before 6 April 2016 and your partner reached State Pension age, or died, on or after that date.
• Additional State Pension. This can only be inherited if you married before 6 April 2016 and your partner reached State Pension age before that date, or died before it having been due to reach it later.

As with the old system, you get nothing extra from your partner’s record if you remarry or form a new civil partnership before reaching your own State Pension age.

When your partner had put off their pension

If your partner reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016 and had deferred, you can usually claim the extra as a higher weekly pension or, if they deferred for at least 12 months in a row, as a lump sum.

You inherit 100% of the deferral on the basic State Pension, 50% on the State Second Pension and Graduated Retirement Benefit, and between 50% and 100% on SERPS. You must have been married or in the civil partnership when your partner died, and the extra is paid once you reach State Pension age yourself.

If your partner reached State Pension age on or after 6 April 2016, extra State Pension from deferring cannot be inherited.

If you have not reached State Pension age

Someone under State Pension age when their partner dies may instead be able to get Bereavement Support Payment, which is only for people below that age. For 2026/27 the higher rate is £3,500 followed by 18 monthly payments of £350, and the standard rate is £2,500 followed by 18 monthly payments of £100.

GOV.UK says a claim within three months of the death gets the full amount; one made more than 21 months after usually gets nothing.

Telling the Pension Service

In England, Scotland and Wales, the Tell Us Once service passes the news to several organisations at once, including the Department for Work and Pensions, which handles the State Pension, and HMRC. It is used within 28 days of receiving the reference number when the death is registered. Tell Us Once does not operate in Northern Ireland.

For questions about your own State Pension afterwards, the Pension Service can be reached on 0800 731 0469 (Welsh language 0800 731 0453), Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm. It helps to have the date of the marriage or civil partnership to hand.

Who this matters for, and what to check

The rules matter most where one partner had a much fuller record or a large earnings-related pension, and for couples who married before April 2016. Points worth noting down:

• The date each of you reached, or will reach, State Pension age.
• The date of the marriage or civil partnership.
• Whether your partner deferred their State Pension, and for how long.
• Whether your partner paid a voluntary top-up between October 2015 and April 2017.
• Any new weekly amount shown in letters from the Pension Service.

A higher State Pension can change the tax code on a private pension; our guide to why a second pension payslip can look wrong explains how. For bills paid to a new payee by bank transfer, our explainer on the bank’s name check covers what the results mean.

The short version

If you reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016, your late partner’s record may raise your basic State Pension towards £184.90 a week, and part of their Additional State Pension and any deferral may pass to you. On the new State Pension, inheritance is mainly limited to half of a protected payment and depends on a marriage before April 2016. Most changes are made automatically, and the Pension Service letter shows what has been applied.