We’re keen to support you during this difficult time by helping you access your pension benefits as quickly as possible.
How we can help
If you’ve been told by a registered medical practitioner that you have less than 12 months to live, you may be eligible to take your full pension as a lump sum.
This is known as a ’serious ill-health lump sum’.
We’ll need written confirmation from a medical practitioner to confirm that you’re expected to have less than 12 months to live.
Key things to consider
- If you’re under 75, the payment will be tax-free, as long as you have sufficient lump sum and death benefit allowance (LSDBA) remaining.
- If you’re over 75, the payment will be taxed as pension income. We’ll need to know how much of your LSDBA you have left before making the payment.
Next steps
To get things started and access your pension benefits as quickly as possible, please contact us.
- We’ll need to confirm that you qualify for serious ill-health before we can process and complete a claim.
- To do this, we’ll send you a medical declaration form, for a registered medical practitioner to complete and return to us.
We’ll then send you a pack that outlines:
- your serious ill-health lump sum value
- any relevant tax information
- important things to consider
- information on where you can get more advice, and
- a breakdown of what to do next.
Power of Attorney
If you have appointed a Power of Attorney, we can work with them to process your claim. See our Power of Attorney page for more information.
Setting up a Power of AttorneyFurther support
HMRC
Find out more about serious ill-health lump sums.
Marie Curie and support for carers
Provides clinical, practical and emotional support. Not just for those who are dying, but those caring for someone with a terminal illness too. You can call their Support Line on 0800 090 2309 or email them at support@mariecurie.org.uk.
Macmillan Cancer Support
Offers support, information and an online community for those living with terminal cancer and their carers.