Partners in Confidence: Making a death in service claim run smoothly

Part of the Employee Benefits Team’s job is helping clients to make the death in service claims process run as smoothly as possible.

From time to time, employees will pass away whilst still working for a client. As this can be a difficult time for the family, we handle these cases urgently, as we do not want to cause any further stress for the family.

On 8 January 2023, a member of a group life assurance policy passed away. The death benefit under the policy was four times the member’s annual salary, which is a typical level of cover.

As a matter of course, we pre-completed the claim form and sent it to the client to complete any additional information. We worked closely with the client to make sure that all the relevant information is obtained before sending this across to the insurer. We also reminded the client about any bereavement helplines to be pass this on to colleagues and family members who may need help dealing with their grief. The claim form was completed and sent to the insurer by 10 January 2023. 

We closely managed the claims process to see if anything further was needed by the insurer before they could decide whether to pay the claim. By 30 January 2023, the insurer was able to verify the death using an online register and confirmed that a payment of just under £500,000 would be made on 1 February 2023. It can take up to two weeks for deaths to be recorded on the register.

The money was paid into the Trustee bank account on 8 February 2023, for distribution to the members’ beneficiaries. 

The claims money can be put towards anything the beneficiary wants, which could include funeral