Life Insurance following death of my husband

xylophone

He was quite high up at work, so I feel that he would’ve had benefits through work and I know he didn’t take out a pension from work. I’ve contacted them and they told me they can’t find any benefits, just to supply the deferred pension entitlement certificate, which I don’t see he would’ve had if he was only 50. 

It would be rather unusual for a senior employee not to be a member of an occupational defined benefits scheme.

You mention Equiniti, a firm which administers a number of defined benefit pensions.

Have you checked your late husband's paperwork for a document along these lines?

Statement of deferred benefits on leaving

Pre 88 GMP

Post 88 GMP

Excess 

xylophone

Taking out 

I am wondering whether by this the OP means that he took the money in the private schemes as terminal illness lump sums. rather than that he started a personal pension after being made redundant?  See above

 because he drew all the money out of his three private pensions for us to live on.

But perhaps he had a deferred occupational pension which the OP didn't claim?

 He wasn’t drawing on his pension, it was with equiniti.

KAFrancis

His payslip shows medical benefit and car allowance, but no pension, so I am wondering if he didn’t have a work one. Not sure why. It was Abbey Life that wrote, ‘no life insurance needed due to client having sufficient benefits with employment’. This has all got even more confusing. I will contact the employer again to get some clarity. It makes me feel bad to keep asking them about money, which is why I asked on here. Thanks for your comments and I guess it proves you should talk about these things. 

poppystar

KAFrancis said:

His payslip shows medical benefit and car allowance, but no pension, so I am wondering if he didn’t have a work one. Not sure why. It was Abbey Life that wrote, ‘no life insurance needed due to client having sufficient benefits with employment’. This has all got even more confusing. I will contact the employer again to get some clarity. It makes me feel bad to keep asking them about money, which is why I asked on here. Thanks for your comments and I guess it proves you should talk about these things. 

Just a thought but could the Abbey Life have been referring to critical illness insurance rather than life insurance - in other words he wouldn’t need to cover if he became unable to work because his employer would pay for the first x months if he became ill? 

Don't feel bad about asking the employer about money. It sounds like they have not sent you any clear statement of what he was entitled too or the grounds under which he left but are rather just responding to the questions you ask. It may be that for privacy reasons they can’t explain it to you but it would be useful if they told you that.

I think more hunting through paperwork is needed but realise that it’s a horrid time for you and not easy to do that. Take care

theoretica

I might be worth asking Abbey Life if they happen to have better records of the conversation.  While it doesn't seem very likely, any chance is better than none.

Dox

Keep_pedalling said:

KAFrancis said:

I can’t find any paperwork of a private life insurance. He was quite high up at work, so I feel that he would’ve had benefits through work and I know he didn’t take out a pension from work. I’ve contacted them and they told me they can’t find any benefits, just to supply the deferred pension entitlement certificate, which I don’t see he would’ve had if he was only 50. I thought that making him redundant was illegal. 

If he was not part of the company pension scheme then he would not have had any death in service benefits, in which case being “ made redundant” would be beneficial as he would have received a redundancy payment rather than nothing.

Not always the case. Many employers offer stand alone life assurance to employees who aren't pension scheme members, but it is frequently a lower multiple of salary than applies to pension scheme members. This approach has become much more common in recent years because more employees, especially senior ones, may opt for a salary enhancement rather than pension scheme membership if they are close to breaching the Lifetime Allowance (unlikely here, given the young age of the gentleman concerned).

OP, roughly how long had your husband worked for his employer before his redundancy?

Tealblue

Keep_pedalling said:

KAFrancis said:

I can’t find any paperwork of a private life insurance. He was quite high up at work, so I feel that he would’ve had benefits through work and I know he didn’t take out a pension from work. I’ve contacted them and they told me they can’t find any benefits, just to supply the deferred pension entitlement certificate, which I don’t see he would’ve had if he was only 50. I thought that making him redundant was illegal. 

If he was not part of the company pension scheme then he would not have had any death in service benefits, in which case being “ made redundant” would be beneficial as he would have received a redundancy payment rather than nothing.

OP - a 'deferred pension entitlement certificate' is issued when someone leaves active membership of a pension scheme (i.e. they stop building up benefits in the scheme), so could apply at any age. How do you 'know' he wasn't a member? If it was a non-contributory scheme, he wouldn't have paid anything in to the scheme, so you wouldn't expect to see deductions on his payslip.

The assertion that he wouldn't have death in service benefits if he didn't belong to the company pension scheme could be wide of the mark. That might have been true some decades ago but many employers offer DIS on a 'stand alone' basis to non-pension scheme members.

xylophone

He wasn’t drawing on his pension, it was with equiniti.

Have you been in contact with Equiniti?
https://equiniti.com/uk/contact-us/

His payslip shows medical benefit and car allowance, but no pension, so I am wondering if he didn’t have a work one. 

It is not impossible that the company provided a non-contributory pension.

just to supply the deferred pension entitlement certificate, 

Have you checked your late husband's papers to see if there was a Statement of Deferred Benefits among them?

KAFrancis

Will check all of these suggestions that I haven’t already done. Thank you

macman

You can't make someone redundant on health grounds: redundancy is when the job no longer exists, not when someone is physically incapable of doing the job. Early retirement on health grounds would be far more likely.
How long did he serve with the employer? If he really was made redundant, and had at least two years service, then he would have received at least the statutory minimum of one week per year, and this would be visible in his payslips or bank statements.