Audience: This Notice will be of particular interest to:
Action: Destroy any death in service forms you may hold
If you are a Welfare Officer with specific responsibility to support bereaved families through the death benefit claim process, you may wish to meet with your pensions administrator to discuss whether or not changes in the process for them affects your contact with the bereaved family members
Timing: 1 February 2010
Usually, the only involvement employers have when dealing with a death in service case is to notify (immediately) the pensions administrator and payroll of the death. This will not change. However, if you are a Welfare Officer and have a specific role in supporting bereaved families through the death benefit claim process, you should note that we have changed the content of the letter templates that the pensions administrators use to communicate with the deceased’s dependants and personal representative(s). We have already amended the death in service booklet series to include more detail about:
You may wish to meet with your pensions administrator colleagues to discuss the new process, and ask for samples of the revised letter templates and associated forms. We envisage, however, that there will be little or no change to current practices for Welfare Officers.
We have told Pensions administrators to start using the new letters and forms from 1 February 2010.
The booklets titles remain as they are now. So that you are using the most up to date versions, the booklets are listed below, along with their publication date:
You can order these booklets from your pensions administrator. Alternatively, you can view pdf. versions of the booklets on our website.
Contacts
Enquiries about content, distribution or to receive in a different format
employerhelpdesk@cabinet-office.x.gsi.gov.uk
01256 846414
Employer Helpdesk
Civil Service Pensions
Grosvenor House
Basing View
Basingstoke
RG21 4HG