I
Statutory
Date of death
Benefits stop
State Pension, UC, PIP, ESA, Pension Credit and more cease on the day of death.
Tell DWP about the death — so the benefits stop.
The BD8 is the DWP death notification — a certificate the registrar prints when you register the death.
Notifying DWP stops the deceased's State Pension, Universal Credit, PIP, ESA, Pension Credit and other benefits. In most cases now you do not post the form at all: Tell Us Once or one phone call does the same thing faster.
This page shows which of the three routes applies, walks the form section by section, and explains the overpayment rules families meet too late.
✓ Official source checked 23 August 2026 · GOV.UK last updated that page 2 December 2024What to do after someone dies on GOV.UK
What it is
DWP death notification — the registrar's certificate
Who tells DWP
Next of kin, executor or solicitor — or Tell Us Once / one call
Our part
Every route and section walked through, in plain English — free
There is no form to download
There is no BD8 to download. The registrar prints and hands you the certificate when you register the death — it is not published as a file anywhere.
Use Tell Us Once instead →Boundary
This is a walkthrough, not a submission. The BD8 is issued by the registrar, and DWP is notified through Tell Us Once, a free call to the Bereavement Service on 0800 731 0469, or by posting the form's reverse side. We don't intermediate any of those. BD8 is the England-and-Wales form; in Scotland the equivalent is 334/SI and in Northern Ireland it is 36/BD8. Where an overpayment is disputed or the estate is insolvent, that is a conversation for a solicitor.
Which route applies
Three ways to tell DWP. Most families never post the form.
The reverse side of the BD8 only needs posting if neither of the faster routes was used. If the registrar completed Tell Us Once with you, or you call the Bereavement Service, DWP is notified and the form can stay in your records. Find the route that matches what happened at the register office.
Route 1 · recommended
Tell Us Once
Done at the register office, or online within 28 days.
If the registrar offered Tell Us Once and you used it, DWP has already been notified. You do not need to complete or post the BD8 reverse side — keep it with your records. Tell Us Once must be used within 28 days of receiving the unique reference number from the registrar.
No form to post
Route 2 · one call
DWP Bereavement Service
One free call to 0800 731 0469 notifies every benefit stream.
Calling the Bereavement Service notifies State Pension, Universal Credit, PIP, ESA, Pension Credit, Attendance Allowance and Carer's Allowance in one call. If you make this call you do not need to post the BD8. Have the deceased's NI number, dates and bank details ready — the agent can take a survivor's claim at the same time.
No form to post
Route 3 · fallback
Post the reverse side
Only if Tell Us Once wasn't offered and you haven't phoned.
If Tell Us Once wasn't available and you have not phoned the Bereavement Service, completing and posting the BD8 reverse side is the correct fallback. It comes with a reply-paid envelope addressed to the right DWP office; you can also hand it in at any Jobcentre Plus.
Post the short reverse side
Whichever route you take, do it promptly. Benefits legally stop on the date of death; every week of delay is another week of potential overpayment accruing against the estate — and DWP is entitled to recover it. The phone route stops the clock immediately.
What this can save
The hard part of the BD8 is rarely the form. It is finding the National Insurance number, and acting before an overpayment builds.
0–0 → 0 min
Time on the form
Families typically spend 15–20 minutes (if NI number and pension-book details are to hand). With the NI number already recorded, the form itself is 5 minutes of writing — the rest is the hunt.
Cost
Overpayment avoided
Benefits stop on the date of death; State Pension overpayments can run to hundreds of pounds a month and DWP may recover them from the estate. Notifying promptly may avoid that recovery entirely.
0 call
Every benefit, one number
One free call to 0800 731 0469 notifies State Pension, Universal Credit, PIP, ESA, Pension Credit and more — and can avoid posting the form at all.
The easiest BD8 is the one whose National Insurance number your records have already kept.
The route — what happens, and when
Benefits stop at the date of death.
The form, section by section
Front, reverse, and what DWP does next. In plain English.
The registrar completes the front; the family completes the reverse only on the postal route. The sections below also cover what DWP does after notification, the survivor benefits worth checking, and the handful of mistakes that cause most queries.
Section 1
What the BD8 actually is — and whether you still need to post it
The BD8 is a two-sided certificate printed by the registrar at the moment you register the death.
The front side records the official death registration details (completed by the registrar — you cannot change these). The reverse side is a short form for the family to complete and post to DWP. In most cases in 2025–26, posting the reverse side is optional: Tell Us Once or a phone call to the DWP Bereavement Service achieves the same result faster. This section helps you decide which route applies to you.
Route 1 — Tell Us Once (recommended)
If the registrar offered Tell Us Once and you used it, DWP has already been notified.
You do not need to complete or post the BD8 reverse side.
Keep the form in your records just in case, but no further action is required with DWP on this form specifically.
Tell Us Once must be used within 28 days of receiving the unique reference number from the registrar. Gov.uk reference: gov.uk/after-a-death/organisations-you-need-to-contact-and-tell-us-once.
Route 2 — DWP Bereavement Service phone call
Calling 0800 731 0469 (Monday–Friday 8am–6pm, free) notifies all DWP benefit streams in one call — State Pension, Universal Credit, PIP, ESA, Pension Credit, Attendance Allowance, Carer's Allowance.
If you make this call, you do not need to post the BD8.
Have the deceased's NI number, date of birth, date of death, and their bank account details ready.
The DWP agent can also take a survivor benefit claim at the same time.
Route 3 — Post the BD8 (fallback)
If Tell Us Once was not available at the register office, or you did not receive a reference number, and you have not yet phoned the DWP Bereavement Service, completing and posting the BD8 reverse side is the correct fallback.
The form comes with a business reply envelope addressed to the correct DWP office.
You can also hand it in at any Jobcentre Plus if posting is inconvenient.
Scotland and Northern Ireland
BD8 is the England and Wales form.
In Scotland the equivalent is form 334/SI (issued by the Scottish registrar).
In Northern Ireland the form is 36/BD8.
Tell Us Once operates across all three nations via gov.uk.
The BD8 is a two-sided certificate printed by the registrar at the moment you register the death.
DWP (form issued by the civil registrar) · BD8
Section 2
The front of the form — pre-printed by the registrar
The registrar completes the front of the BD8 at the time of registration using the information you provided to register the death.
You cannot alter these fields. If anything is wrong, the error must be corrected by the registrar before the form is sent to DWP — a correction is called a 'correction to an entry' and is made by the original register office. Check these details carefully before you leave the registration appointment.
Full name of the deceased (as registered)
Exactly as on the death register entry — legal name, not a preferred name.
If the deceased was known by a different name (common with people who changed their name after marriage or informally), the legal name is what DWP will search under.
Mention any alias when calling the Bereavement Service.
Date of death and date of registration
DWP uses the date of death — not the date of registration — as the date all benefits stop.
Benefits stop on the day of death.
Any payment made after that date is technically an overpayment, though if it arose from DWP's own processing delay after proper notification, recovery is not always pursued.
District and sub-district of registration
Administrative reference for the register entry.
Pre-printed by registrar — no action needed from the family.
Entry number in the register
Used to cross-reference back to the official register if DWP needs to verify the registration.
Again, pre-printed.
The registrar completes the front of the BD8 at the time of registration using the information you provided to register the death.
DWP (form issued by the civil registrar) · BD8
Section 3
The reverse of the form — completed by the family
Only needed if you are using Route 3 (postal).
This section is the part the family fills in. It is short — around seven fields — but the NI number is mandatory for DWP to trace the deceased's benefit records. If you cannot find the NI number, try the sources listed below before posting the form, to avoid a DWP follow-up letter.
Deceased's full name, date of birth, and last address
Must match the death certificate.
'Last address' is the address where the deceased was living immediately before death — not a former address.
If the deceased was in a care home or hospital, use their last home address unless they had formally moved to the care home as their permanent residence.
Deceased's National Insurance number
Mandatory. Format: two letters, six digits, one letter (e.g. AB 12 34 56 C).
Sources if not known: P60 or P45 from the most recent employer; any letter from DWP, HMRC, or the Pension Service; the deceased's personal tax return (SA100); a payslip; the NI card if one was kept.
If genuinely unavailable, write 'not known' and add as much identifying detail as possible — DWP can sometimes trace records by name and date of birth, but this slows processing significantly.
Deceased's occupation (last known)
The occupation at the time of retirement or last employment.
'Retired' is acceptable if they had not worked for many years.
This helps DWP contextualise the record, particularly for older cases.
Marital status at time of death
Married, widowed, single, divorced, or surviving civil partner.
This affects whether a surviving spouse may claim a survivor's pension uplift or Bereavement Support Payment.
If the deceased was widowed, DWP may need to know the date of the first spouse's death to calculate any inherited State Pension entitlement.
Name and address of the person completing the form
Your own full name, relationship to the deceased (e.g. son, executor, solicitor acting for the estate), and your contact address.
DWP may write to you if they have queries or if there is an overpayment to discuss.
Pension books and benefit payment books — return with the form
If the deceased held a physical pension-order book or benefit payment book, send it with the BD8 in the same envelope.
These books are DWP's physical instrument of payment and must be cancelled.
Most payments are now made by bank transfer (BACS) and no book exists, but older claimants may still have them.
If in doubt, check whether the deceased received any paper books.
Only needed if you are using Route 3 (postal).
DWP (form issued by the civil registrar) · BD8
Section 4
What DWP does after notification
Understanding what DWP's back-office processes look like is useful for the executor managing the estate's cash flow.
DWP typically takes two to six weeks to process a bereavement notification and issue any closing correspondence. Here is what to expect.
Benefits stop from the date of death
State Pension, Universal Credit, PIP, ESA, Pension Credit, Attendance Allowance, and Carer's Allowance all legally cease on the date of death.
State Pension is paid in arrears every four weeks, so a payment may arrive in a bank account after death — this is a normal processing lag, not fraud.
DWP will reconcile it.
Overpayment letters
If DWP paid benefits after the date of death before being notified, they will issue an overpayment notice to the estate.
The estate (not the beneficiaries personally) is liable.
DWP can recover overpayments from estate funds before distribution.
If the estate is insolvent, DWP ranks as an unsecured creditor.
If the overpayment arose purely because of DWP's own administrative delay after the death was properly notified, seek advice — recovery in those circumstances is not always mandatory. Statute reference: Social Security Administration Act 1992 s.71.
Bereavement Support Payment claim — time-critical
If the deceased's spouse or civil partner survives them and the deceased was paying National Insurance contributions, Bereavement Support Payment (BSP) may be available.
Claim within 3 months of death to receive the full back-dated amount: £3,500 lump sum plus £350/month for 18 months (with children), or £2,500 lump sum plus £100/month (without children).
Claims after 3 months receive reduced back-payment.
Apply at gov.uk or call the Bereavement Service.
This is entirely separate from the BD8 notification.
DWP's 2–6 week processing timeline
Expect a confirmation letter within 2–6 weeks.
If you have not heard within 8 weeks of notification — whether by Tell Us Once, phone, or posted BD8 — contact the Bereavement Service to confirm the notification was received and processed.
Understanding what DWP's back-office processes look like is useful for the executor managing the estate's cash flow.
DWP (form issued by the civil registrar) · BD8
Section 5
Survivor benefits and your own entitlements
When you call the DWP Bereavement Service or use Tell Us Once, DWP can also check whether the survivor's own benefit entitlements have changed — for example, if the deceased was the higher earner whose pension contributed to a joint income, the survivor may now qualify for Pension Credit or a Council Tax reduction. Have your own NI number and date of birth ready when you call.
Your own NI number and date of birth
DWP will ask for these on the Bereavement Service call so they can look up your own record.
Even if you are not currently receiving any benefits, you may now qualify for means-tested support following the reduction in household income.
Inherited State Pension
If the deceased reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016 (under the 'old' State Pension system), a surviving spouse or civil partner may inherit part of the Additional State Pension or a Graduated Retirement Benefit uplift.
DWP will assess this automatically if you notify them of the death and your relationship. Gov.uk reference: gov.uk/inheriting-retirement-pension.
Pension Credit and Council Tax support
The survivor may newly qualify for Pension Credit (if aged 66 or over and income has dropped), Council Tax Support (administered by the local authority — notify them separately; Tell Us Once covers this), and Housing Benefit.
A DWP benefits check call takes around 20 minutes and costs nothing.
Carer's Allowance — cease notification
If the deceased was the person being cared for, and a carer was claiming Carer's Allowance on their behalf, that allowance stops when the cared-for person dies.
If you were the carer, DWP should be told promptly or overpayment may occur.
Tell Us Once does not always catch this automatically — follow up directly if it applies.
DWP (form issued by the civil registrar) · BD8
Section W
Pitfalls and common mistakes
The BD8 process is simple compared to most estate admin, but three specific mistakes account for the vast majority of DWP queries and overpayment letters.
Assuming Tell Us Once covered everything — it may not have
Tell Us Once notifies the core DWP benefit streams, HMRC, DVLA, Passport Office, and the local council.
It does NOT notify private pensions, banks, insurers, utility providers, or workplace pension schemes.
It also does NOT automatically process a survivor's benefit claim — that requires a separate call or claim.
Many families discover this gap weeks later when they realise a direct debit is still being paid or a legacy monthly pension has not stopped.
Missing or wrong NI number
Posting the BD8 without the NI number causes DWP to write back with a query letter, adding 4–8 weeks.
Writing the wrong NI number causes DWP to update the wrong record.
Double-check the format (two letters, six digits, one letter) and compare against at least one source document before posting.
Not returning pension-order books
If the deceased held a paper pension-order book and you post the BD8 without it, DWP will write to request the book.
It cannot formally close the pension record without the book.
If the book is genuinely lost, write 'lost — not in possession of family' in the covering note.
Delay in notifying DWP at all
Every week of delay between the death and DWP notification is another week's worth of potential overpayment accumulating against the estate.
State Pension overpayments in particular can amount to hundreds of pounds per month.
DWP is legally entitled to recover them from the estate.
Notification by phone (Route 2) takes around 20–30 minutes and stops the clock immediately.
The BD8 process is simple compared to most estate admin, but three specific mistakes account for the vast majority of DWP queries and overpayment letters.
DWP (form issued by the civil registrar) · BD8
Prepare the record before the form
One number does most of the work. Have it before you start.
The deceased's National Insurance number is the single most-common sticking point — DWP needs it to locate their benefit records. If it wasn't recorded while the deceased was alive, families typically spend more time hunting for it (P60s, old payslips, letters from HMRC or DWP) than filling in the form itself. Valoren captures the NI number as part of the Civil Dossier.
AB 12 34 56 C
The National Insurance number · mandatory
Two letters, six digits, one letter. If it wasn't recorded while the deceased was alive, look in: a P60 or P45 from the last employer; any letter from DWP, HMRC or the Pension Service; the deceased's tax return; a payslip; or the NI card. A missing or wrong number is the commonest cause of a DWP query — and can add four to eight weeks.
01
Names, dates and last address
The deceased's full legal name (as registered), date of birth and the address where they lived immediately before death — matching the death certificate. For the phone route, the date of death and the deceased's bank account details too.
02
Last known occupation and marital status
Occupation at retirement or last employment ('retired' is fine). Marital status at death, which decides whether a survivor's pension uplift or Bereavement Support Payment may follow.
03
Your own details, as the person notifying
Your full name, your relationship to the deceased (son, executor, solicitor acting), and a contact address — DWP writes here if there is a query or an overpayment to discuss.
04
Any paper pension or benefit payment books
If the deceased held a physical pension-order or payment book, it is returned with the BD8 on the postal route. Most payments are now by bank transfer and no book exists — but older claimants may still have one.
The easiest BD8 is the one whose National Insurance number your records have already kept.
Valoren records the National Insurance number and the deceased's details in the Civil Dossier and Personal Record before they are needed — so when the family reaches DWP, the number is already to hand and no hunt begins.
DWP Bereavement Service · free · public
0800 731 0469, Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm. One call notifies every DWP benefit stream, can take a survivor's claim, and means the form need not be posted.
Keep it to hand · free A4 reference
A short printable companion — the three routes, the postal form's fields, and the key facts (NI number format, the 0800 731 0469 line, the overpayment window and the BSP1 deadline) on four pages.
Before you pay anyone for this
The BD8 notification is free, and almost always a job you can do yourself by phone or form. The same free call that stops the benefits can also check the survivor's own entitlements — Pension Credit, Council Tax support, inherited State Pension, Bereavement Support Payment. A solicitor's time is better kept for a disputed overpayment or an insolvent estate, not the notification itself.
What this walkthrough covers
All three routes — Tell Us Once, the phone call, and posting the form
The front and reverse of the form, field by field
What DWP does next — the timeline, and the overpayment rules
The survivor's own entitlements worth checking on the same call
Where you go next
DWP is notified on gov.uk, by phone, or by post — not here
Tell Us Once / phone / postBereavement Support Payment is a separate claim with its own form
Separate claimA disputed overpayment, or an insolvent estate
Specialist review recommendedKnown limits
- This is a walkthrough, not a submission. DWP is notified through Tell Us Once, the Bereavement Service phone call, or by posting the registrar's form.
- Tell Us Once notifies the core DWP streams, HMRC, DVLA, the Passport Office and the council — but not private pensions, banks, insurers or workplace schemes. Those are notified separately.
- Valoren is not a solicitor and does not give legal advice. Where an overpayment is disputed or the estate is insolvent, a regulated solicitor is the right answer.
- Figures and timings are DWP / gov.uk published references and can change. Confirm the current process before you rely on them.
● The next step
With the number to hand, the notification is a phone call.
The only thing that turns the BD8 into an afternoon's hunt is a missing National Insurance number. Keep it on record while you can, and telling DWP is a single call or a short form. Prepare the record first; then notify on the gov.uk service or by phone.