What executors need from pension providers after a death (2027 rules)

If you are the executor (formally, a personal representative) of someone who has died, you need three things from every pension provider they held money with: the value of the pension at the date of death, the type of benefit and its status (defined contribution or defined benefit, crystallised or not, in payment or not), and the nomination position, meaning who the deceased asked the scheme to pay and whether the scheme has discretion over that decision. You do not need the grant of probate to ask for any of this. You do need to prove who you are.

For deaths on or after 6 April 2027 this stops being optional background admin. From that date, most unused pension funds and death benefits are brought into the estate for inheritance tax under the government's technical note on inheritance tax on pensions, and personal representatives become legally responsible for reporting and paying any IHT due on them. HMRC estimates around 10,500 estates become newly liable each year and a further 38,500 pay more, with an average increase of around £34,000. This guide is the practical half of the executor's pension job: what to ask each provider, in what order, with what proof. The other half, how you report those figures to HMRC, is covered in our companion guide to executor pension reporting duties under the 2027 rules. Once the valuations arrive, our free pensions IHT 2027 estimator turns them into a likely tax figure in about two minutes, which helps you decide how the bill should be funded before anything is distributed.

Why provider communication is now on the critical path

Before April 2027, most defined contribution pension death benefits sat outside the estate. Executors often mentioned pensions to HMRC only in passing, and providers dealt with beneficiaries directly. The reform changes the mechanics, not just the tax bill. The executor becomes liable for IHT on money they do not control, held by a scheme they may never have dealt with, payable to beneficiaries the will may not even mention (pension nominations sit outside the will). If that sounds like a structural tension, it is, and it is exactly why the government built information sharing between personal representatives and scheme administrators into the process, before the grant of probate is issued.

Timing pressure comes from the tax itself. Inheritance tax is due six months after the end of the month of death, after which interest starts to run. Waits for valuations vary, but a slow pension provider can hold up the whole IHT account. So contact every provider early, ideally within the first month, alongside the other early tasks in our first 30 days for executors guide. If the reform itself is new to you, start with our plain English explainer of the 2027 pension IHT changes and come back to this checklist.

Step 1: find every pension

You cannot write to a provider you do not know exists, and pensions are the asset class executors most often miss. Work through, in order:

1. Paperwork and post. Annual pension statements, joining letters, old payslips showing scheme deductions, and any file marked pensions or retirement.
2. Bank statements. Incoming pension payments identify schemes in payment; historic direct debits or transfers can identify personal pensions.
3. Employment history. Since auto enrolment (2012 onwards), almost every employer has a workplace scheme. List employers and contact the scheme for each.
4. The family. A surviving partner or adult children often know of arrangements no paperwork survives for.
5. The government's Pension Tracing Service. Free, and it finds contact details for workplace and personal schemes by employer or provider name.

Keep a simple schedule as you go: provider, policy or scheme reference, date notified, date valuation received. That schedule feeds straight into the estate accounts later, so it is never wasted work.

Step 2: prove who you are

Providers will not release information about a member to a stranger on the phone, and under the 2027 framework they need to deal with the personal representatives before the grant of probate exists. Expect each scheme to ask for some or all of the following, and offer it up front to save a round trip:

• A certified copy of the death certificate (order several extra certificates at registration, because each provider tends to want its own).
• A certified copy of the will and any codicil, showing your appointment as executor.
• Photo ID and proof of address for you, and for co executors where you are acting jointly.
• A signed declaration confirming you accept the appointment and either have sole authority to act or are acting with the agreement of the other executors.
• Where there is no will, evidence of your entitlement to apply for letters of administration.

This pre grant identity check is one of the genuinely new administrative burdens of the 2027 regime. Under the old rules a scheme could simply wait for the beneficiary claim. Now the scheme and the personal representatives need to exchange valuation and beneficiary information early enough for the executor to complete the IHT account, so schemes verify executors at the notification stage. Ask each provider for its exact requirements in your first contact rather than guessing.

Step 3: the question list to send every provider

Send the same structured request to each scheme, adapted to what you already know. A single letter or secure message covering all of it is far faster than piecemeal phone calls.

Ask for	Why you need it
Value of the pension at the date of death	The core IHT figure. For a defined contribution pot, the market value of unused funds at death; for other benefits, the amount payable on death.
Type of arrangement	Defined contribution or defined benefit, and whether it is a workplace scheme, personal pension, SIPP or SSAS. Different benefits are treated differently from 2027.
Crystallisation and payment status	Whether benefits were untouched, in drawdown, or in payment as an annuity or scheme pension, and whether any guarantee period continues.
Nomination or expression of wishes	Who the deceased nominated, whether the scheme pays at its discretion, and whether the trustees have made or expect to make a decision.
Split between exempt and non exempt beneficiaries	Amounts passing to a spouse or civil partner remain exempt; amounts to anyone else count in the taxable estate from 6 April 2027.
Death in service benefits	Confirm whether any death in service lump sum is payable. These are excluded from the 2027 IHT charge, so they must be identified separately.
How the scheme will handle any IHT due	From 2027, up to 50% of the pension amount can be retained by the scheme for up to 15 months to help fund the IHT liability. Ask whether the scheme will retain funds, pay HMRC directly, or pay out in full.
Any illiquid assets	If the pension holds property or unquoted shares (common in a SSAS or SIPP), ask how and when a date of death valuation will be produced.
The scheme's process and timescales	Named contact, reference number, expected turnaround, and what further documents the scheme needs from you.

Two of those rows deserve emphasis. The exempt versus non exempt split is what actually determines the tax: a £300,000 pot nominated wholly to a surviving spouse adds nothing to the IHT bill, while the same pot nominated to adult children enters the taxable estate in full. And the funding question matters because the executor is liable for tax on money they cannot reach. The retention mechanism exists precisely so the tax can be funded from the pension rather than forcing the executor to strip other estate assets or chase beneficiaries after distribution. Establish each provider's approach in writing before any death benefits are paid out.

What happens with the information once you have it

The valuations and beneficiary splits from each provider go into the estate's inheritance tax account alongside everything else the deceased owned. From 6 April 2027, unused pension funds and death benefits are reported within that account, and the personal representatives are responsible for paying any IHT attributable to them. The scheme, in parallel, has its own information obligations to HMRC, which we cover separately in our guide to how pension schemes report death benefits to HMRC from 2027. Your job on the provider side is complete when you hold, in writing, every row of the table above for every scheme, and a confirmed position on how each scheme's share of the tax will be funded.

Keep everything. Date of death valuations, nomination confirmations and retention decisions are exactly the documents HMRC may ask to see, and they also protect you personally: an executor who can show they requested the right information promptly and acted on it is in a strong position if the estate is later queried. For the wider picture of who the reform touches and how big the numbers are nationally, our pensions and inheritance tax 2027 research hub collates the official estimates, and if you are reading this while planning your own affairs rather than administering an estate, the pension holders 2027 hub looks at the same rules from the owner's side.

Common complications

The provider will not talk to you

Usually an identity evidence gap. Ask, in writing, exactly which documents the scheme requires from a personal representative before the grant, and supply certified copies rather than originals. If a scheme insists it can only deal with you after probate, point out that you need date of death information to complete the IHT account that the probate application itself depends on, and escalate through the scheme's complaints process if needed.

Discretionary decisions are pending

Many schemes decide who receives death benefits at the trustees' discretion, guided but not bound by the expression of wishes. The valuation exists from day one even if the destination is undecided, so ask for the value and the likely beneficiary position separately, and do not let a pending discretion decision delay the valuation.

Illiquid or hard to value assets

A SSAS holding a trading company's premises, or a SIPP with unquoted shares, still needs a date of death valuation, and professional valuations take time. Start these immediately, use reasonable estimates in the IHT account where HMRC's process allows, and correct the figures when finals arrive. Interest runs from six months after the end of the month of death either way, so the retention mechanism and early instructions to the scheme matter most in exactly these cases.

More executors than opinions

Where several executors are acting, agree early who leads pension correspondence, and confirm to each scheme that the lead executor acts with the others' authority. Mixed messages to a provider are one of the most common causes of restarted identity checks. If one executor cannot or will not engage, our guide to whether an executor can resign or delegate duties explains the options.

A note on scope and Scotland

This guide describes the position in England and Wales; the 2027 pension IHT rules apply UK wide, but Scottish executries use confirmation rather than probate and some terminology differs. Nothing here is financial advice, and decisions about pension nominations, transfers or withdrawals during someone's lifetime are regulated financial advice territory: an executor's job is to gather information and settle tax, not to advise beneficiaries on what to do with what they receive.

If the estate you are administering has significant pension funds passing to anyone other than a spouse or civil partner, it is worth speaking to a specialist early, ideally before any death benefits are paid out. We can connect you with a vetted probate or estate specialist who deals with the 2027 pension rules, with no obligation. And if you want a number before that conversation, run the date of death valuations you have gathered through our free pensions IHT 2027 estimator: two minutes with the provider figures in hand gives you a working estimate of the tax at stake and how much the retention mechanism would need to cover.