What to do when the owner of a business dies?

Dealing with bereavement can be incredibly hard. Whether you're the next of kin, business partner or a legal representative, we want to make sure you know what to do when the owner of a business dies. Here are a few points to consider:

If the business is going to continue operating

• If the person who passed away was the primary contact, who will take over that position now?
  • Importantly, you’ll need someone to be added as a primary contact on the account by a full or general access delegate. 
  • If there is no active full or general access delegate on the account you’ll need to call us on 0300 0200 393 and request an alternative delegate access nomination form. 
  • Please see: How do I change the primary contact?
• Is the name of the business changing?
  • If the name of the business has changed you’ll need to complete a Change of organisation name form and send evidence along with it by post to Nest, Nene Hall, Lynch Wood Business Park, Peterborough, PE2 6FY.
  • Please see How do I change my organisation details?
• Is the bank account for the business going to be changed?
  • If the bank account is going to change, the Direct Debit details held by Nest will also need to be updated. 
  • Please see: Can I change the bank or building society details for my payment source?
• How can I inform Nest if workers are no longer employed by my organisation?
  • You’ll need to mark the members as ‘No further contributions payable’ from the contribution schedule that covers their last earnings period.
• If the person who died had a Nest member account.
  • You will need to contact Nest and advise us. Please see: What to do if a member of my organisation has died?

If the business is going to cease trading:

• Pay all owed contributions then close the account.
  • If there is no active full or general access delegate on the account you’ll need to call us on 0300 0200 393 and request an alternative delegate access nomination form.
  • Once you have access to the account, you’ll need to clear any outstanding contribution schedules before submitting the request. To do this, please see: Making Contributions
  • After submitting the final contribution schedule(s), if you need to make the payment from a different bank account to the one originally setup, please contact Nest on 0300 0200 393 for details on how to make that payment. 
  • You can then close the account by logging in to the Nest account, going to  the 'Organisation details' area of the online account and clicking on 'Stop taking part in Nest'. Please see How do I stop using NEST? for more information.
  • From requesting to close the account, it will take 28 days for the closure to take effect.