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Public Sector Employee Benefits: Estate Planning in NHS, Education, and Civil Service

· 19 min

Executive Summary

Public sector employment reached 6.18 million in September 2025, spanning four major defined benefit pension schemes with materially different death benefit structures and inheritance tax consequences.1 The NHS Pension Scheme operates as a non-discretionary arrangement where death benefit lump sums currently fall within the deceased's estate for IHT purposes -- a structural disadvantage absent from the discretionary LGPS, Teachers' Pension Scheme (England and Scotland), and civil service alpha scheme.2 From 6 April 2027, two simultaneous changes resolve this anomaly and introduce new complexity: all death-in-service benefits from registered pension schemes are excluded from IHT regardless of discretionary status, while unused pension funds enter IHT scope.3 With 41% work-related stress in the NHS and only 33% pay and benefits satisfaction across the civil service, public sector HR professionals face the strategic imperative of deploying estate planning support as a high-impact, low-cost wellbeing intervention within constrained budgets.45

1. The Public Sector Estate Planning Landscape

Public sector employees occupy a paradoxical position in estate planning. They hold access to some of the most generous defined benefit pension death benefits in the UK workforce -- ranging from two times reckonable pay in the NHS 2015 Scheme to three times annual pay in the LGPS and Teachers' Pension Scheme -- yet the structural complexity of these schemes means that without proper coordination between pension nominations and personal wills, these benefits can produce unintended outcomes for beneficiaries.678

The scale of the affected workforce is substantial. ONS data for September 2025 records 6.18 million public sector employees, including 2.07 million in the NHS (a record high, up 28,000 year-on-year), 554,000 in the civil service, and 1.97 million in local government.1 Central government employment reached a record 4.05 million.1 Each of these workforce segments is covered by a distinct pension scheme with its own death benefit calculation methodology, nomination mechanism, and -- critically for estate planning -- IHT treatment.

The financial wellbeing context adds urgency. The 2024 NHS Staff Survey, completed by over 700,000 respondents, reported that 41% of staff had been unwell due to work-related stress, only 32% expressed satisfaction with pay, and 30% reported feeling burnt out often or all the time.4 The Civil Service People Survey 2024 recorded 33% pay and benefits satisfaction, with 48% of those intending to leave citing better pay and benefits as the primary driver.5 The CIPD's Analysis of the Public Sector Workforce, published in September 2025, identified pay and workload as the most relevant issues for morale across public sector organisations, while concluding that improving leadership and non-pay factors can support retention improvements with effects larger than those achieved through pay increases alone.9

Within this context, estate planning support represents a category of intervention that costs little to deliver yet addresses a genuine gap in employee financial wellbeing. Death benefit nomination reviews, estate planning awareness sessions, and signposting to professional will writing services are operational activities that public sector HR teams can facilitate within existing frameworks -- provided they understand the scheme-specific complexities that determine how these benefits interact with personal estate planning.

2. Death Benefits Across Public Sector Schemes: A Comparative Framework

2.1 Scheme-by-Scheme Analysis

The four major public sector pension schemes present materially different death benefit structures. HR professionals managing mixed workforces -- such as NHS trusts employing both clinical staff on NHS pension terms and non-clinical staff on LGPS terms -- require a comparative understanding of these differences.

NHS 2015 Scheme. The death-in-service lump sum is calculated as two times the member's reckonable pay, based on the best three consecutive years from the last ten years of pensionable pay.6 The survivor pension is 33.75% of the member's pension entitlement, with children's pensions at 16.875% per child.6 The scheme is non-discretionary: the lump sum is paid to the legal spouse, civil partner, or qualifying partner unless a Form DB2 nomination has been completed.10 This non-discretionary status carries direct IHT consequences, discussed in Section 3.

Civil service alpha scheme. The death-in-service lump sum is the higher of two times final pay or five times accrued pension, less any lump sum payments already made from civil service pension arrangements.11 Final pay is calculated as pensionable pay over the last 12 months (or the highest from the last ten scheme years).11 The lump sum is paid at the discretion of the Scheme Manager (MyCSP), and members can nominate beneficiaries via the Pension Portal or a Death Benefit Nomination form.12 HMRC guidance at IHTM17058 notes an exception: repayments on death of contributions by civil servants who were neither married nor in a civil partnership in respect of widow's or surviving civil partner's pension are included in the estate.2

Teachers' Pension Scheme. The death grant is three times the member's final full-time equivalent salary, with no minimum qualifying period.7 In England and Scotland, the death grant is discretionary and paid to the surviving spouse, civil partner, or qualifying surviving partner unless a nomination has been made via My Pension Online.7 A short-term family benefit provides three months' salary to an adult beneficiary, with an additional three months' salary where there are dependent children.7 The Northern Ireland Teachers' Pension Scheme is non-discretionary and operates on a different IHT basis.2

Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS). The death grant for active members is three times annual pay, payable from day one of membership with no qualifying period.8 The administering authority holds absolute discretion over payment, and members complete expression-of-wish forms that guide but do not bind the authority's decision.13 Deferred members (post-2008 service) receive a death grant of five times deferred annual pension, while pensioners (post-2008, within ten years, under 75) receive ten times pension less amounts already paid.8 AVC fund values are also payable on death.8

2.2 Comparative Table

Feature NHS 2015 Scheme Civil Service Alpha Teachers' Pension LGPS
Lump sum 2x reckonable pay Higher of 2x final pay or 5x accrued pension 3x FTE salary 3x annual pay
Survivor pension 33.75% of entitlement Dependant's pension per scheme rules Dependant's pension per scheme rules Dependant's pension per scheme rules
Qualifying period Varies by benefit type Varies by benefit type None for death grant None for death grant
Nomination method Form DB2 / My NHS Pension Pension Portal / nomination form My Pension Online Expression of wish form
Discretionary status Non-discretionary Discretionary* Discretionary (England/Scotland); Non-discretionary (Northern Ireland) Discretionary
Current IHT position Within estate Outside estate* Outside estate (England/Scotland); Within estate (Northern Ireland) Outside estate
Post-April 2027 death-in-service IHT Outside estate Outside estate Outside estate (all jurisdictions) Outside estate

*Note: Contribution repayments for unmarried/unpartnered civil servants may form part of the estate per IHTM17058.2

This table illustrates a structural inconsistency that has disadvantaged NHS employees and Northern Ireland teachers: identical categories of death benefit attract different IHT treatment depending solely on whether the scheme operates on a discretionary or non-discretionary basis. From April 2027, this anomaly is resolved.

3. The Inheritance Tax Dimension: Current Anomalies and April 2027 Resolution

3.1 The Discretionary and Non-Discretionary Distinction

The IHT treatment of public sector pension death benefits currently depends on whether the scheme pays benefits at the administrator's discretion or is required to pay them to a specified person. HMRC's Inheritance Tax Manual at IHTM17058 sets out the scheme-by-scheme position.2 Death benefits payable at the discretion of scheme administrators -- including the LGPS death grant, the Teachers' Pension Scheme death grant (England and Scotland), and the civil service alpha lump sum -- fall outside the deceased's estate for IHT purposes because no binding entitlement exists at the point of death.2

The NHS Pension Scheme operates differently. As a non-discretionary scheme, the death benefit lump sum must be paid to the member's legal spouse, civil partner, or qualifying partner (or to the person nominated on Form DB2). This binding obligation means the lump sum forms part of the deceased's estate and is subject to IHT, though the spousal or civil partner exemption will apply where the benefit passes to a spouse or civil partner.210 The practical consequence is that NHS employees nominating unmarried partners on Form DB2 face a potential IHT charge on the death benefit that would not apply to an LGPS member in identical personal circumstances.14

The Northern Ireland Teachers' Pension Scheme presents the same anomaly. IHTM17058 explicitly distinguishes between the Teachers' Pension Scheme in England and Scotland (discretionary, outside the estate) and Northern Ireland (non-discretionary, within the estate).2 Public sector HR professionals administering schemes across UK jurisdictions must recognise this distinction when communicating death benefit implications to staff.

3.2 The April 2027 Dual Change

From 6 April 2027, two changes take effect simultaneously.3 First, all death-in-service benefits from registered pension schemes are excluded from IHT, regardless of whether the scheme is discretionary or non-discretionary. This resolves the anomaly described above: NHS employees and Northern Ireland teachers will no longer face IHT exposure on death-in-service lump sums that LGPS and civil service colleagues have historically avoided.3 The government explicitly acknowledged this point in its consultation response, noting that public sector defined benefit schemes funded by the Exchequer cannot restructure death benefit arrangements through alternative trust structures in the way that private sector schemes might.15

Second, unused pension funds and pension death benefits are brought within the value of the deceased's estate for IHT purposes.3 Personal representatives -- not pension scheme administrators -- bear liability for reporting and paying the resulting IHT.3 The government's impact assessment projects that 10,500 estates will gain a new IHT liability, 38,500 estates will pay more IHT, with an average additional liability of approximately GBP 34,000.16 The Exchequer impact is estimated at GBP 710 million in 2027-28, rising to GBP 1,665 million by 2030-31.16

3.3 Practical Impact for Public Sector Defined Benefit Members

For most public sector defined benefit scheme members, the practical impact of the April 2027 changes is a net simplification. Death-in-service lump sums become uniformly IHT-free across all scheme types, removing the anomaly that has disadvantaged NHS staff and Northern Ireland teachers. The inclusion of unused pension funds in IHT scope primarily affects members who hold additional voluntary contribution (AVC) funds or who have partially drawn pension benefits -- circumstances that generate a residual fund value capable of entering the IHT estate.3 Members of public sector career average defined benefit schemes who die in service and have no AVC funds will generally find that the April 2027 changes operate to their advantage.

The new coordination requirement between pension nominations and personal wills is the area where HR communication becomes critical. Where a member's estate includes both personal assets and pension-related values that now fall within IHT scope, the interaction between the will and pension nominations determines the overall IHT position. Spousal and civil partner exemptions are preserved, as are charity exemptions.3 Members whose nominations and wills direct assets to different non-exempt beneficiaries may face unintended IHT consequences that a coordinated review could mitigate.

4. Operational Implications for Public Sector HR

4.1 The Nomination Administration Gap

Across all public sector schemes, death benefit nominations require proactive completion by members. The NHS uses Form DB2 (lump sum on death nomination), available online via My NHS Pension or in paper format (currently version V12, updated May 2025).10 The civil service uses the Death Benefit Nomination portal or paper form.12 The LGPS uses expression-of-wish forms administered by local pension funds.13 Teachers' Pensions provides nomination through My Pension Online.7 No publicly available data exists on completion rates for these nomination forms across public sector schemes -- a data gap that itself represents a risk management concern for HR teams.

The divorce-nomination disconnect presents a specific coordination risk. Upon dissolution of a marriage, section 18A of the Wills Act 1837 treats the former spouse as having predeceased the testator for the purposes of the will -- any gifts to the former spouse lapse and any appointment as executor takes no effect -- but the will itself is not revoked.17 Critically, divorce does not automatically revoke a pension death benefit nomination.10 An NHS employee who completes Form DB2 nominating a spouse, subsequently divorces, and fails to update the nomination will find that the scheme is required to pay the lump sum to the former spouse (as a non-discretionary scheme). In discretionary schemes such as the LGPS, the administering authority retains discretion to pay elsewhere despite an outdated nomination, but there is no obligation to do so.13 HR teams facilitating onboarding, life event reviews, and annual benefits communications should incorporate nomination review prompts at each of these touchpoints.

4.2 Communicating the April 2027 Changes

The April 2027 changes demand a carefully calibrated communication strategy. HR teams must convey two messages simultaneously: the positive change (death-in-service benefits now IHT-free regardless of scheme type, resolving the current disadvantage for NHS and Northern Ireland teaching staff) and the new complexity (unused pension funds entering IHT scope, requiring coordination between pension nominations and personal wills).3

Communication should be factual and scheme-specific. Providing general information about the structure and tax treatment of employer-sponsored pension death benefits does not constitute regulated financial advice. The distinction between financial information (permissible) and financial advice (regulated under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000) is well established, and HR teams that confine their communications to explaining scheme rules, signposting to pension scheme websites, and encouraging employees to seek independent professional advice operate within appropriate boundaries.

4.3 Integration Points: Total Reward Statements and Wellbeing Frameworks

NHS Total Reward Statements, refreshed annually and available via ESR employee self-service or the My NHS Pension portal, provide a natural integration point for estate planning awareness.18 These personalised summaries cover pension benefits, pay, allowances, and local benefits. The 2025 TRS refresh includes McCloud dual calculations for affected members, providing a timely prompt for staff to review all pension-related nominations alongside their personal estate planning.19 HR teams coordinating the TRS communication cycle can incorporate messaging on death benefit nominations, the April 2027 IHT changes, and the importance of will-and-nomination coordination without materially increasing the communication burden.

The NHS Health and Wellbeing Framework, which covers physical, emotional, mental, and financial wellbeing, provides a further structural alignment.20 Financial wellbeing is explicitly recognised as a component of staff health, and estate planning awareness sits within this dimension. The CIPD Health and Wellbeing at Work 2025 survey found that 74% of organisations have wellbeing on senior leaders' agendas and 57% maintain a standalone wellbeing strategy, with public and non-profit sector organisations more likely to offer counselling services and employee assistance programmes (EAPs).21 Integrating estate planning signposting within these existing wellbeing architectures is operationally efficient and strategically aligned.

4.4 Worked Example: The Nomination-Will Coordination Gap

Consider an NHS nurse earning GBP 38,000 per year who cohabits with an unmarried partner and has two children from a previous relationship. Under the NHS 2015 Scheme, the death-in-service lump sum is approximately GBP 76,000 (two times reckonable pay). Without a Form DB2 nomination, the non-discretionary scheme pays this lump sum to the legal spouse or civil partner -- but the nurse is unmarried, so payment defaults to the personal representative for distribution under the will (or intestacy rules if no will exists).610

Under current IHT rules, this lump sum forms part of the estate. If the nurse's total estate (including personal assets) exceeds the nil-rate band of GBP 325,000 (frozen at this level through 2029-30 under Finance Act 2025), IHT is charged at 40% on the excess.22 The spousal exemption does not apply because the partner is not a spouse or civil partner. The same nurse employed under the LGPS on identical personal terms would face no IHT on the death grant because the LGPS is discretionary.28

From April 2027, the death-in-service lump sum is excluded from IHT in both scenarios, resolving this disparity.3 However, if the nurse holds NHS AVC funds, those unused pension fund values enter IHT scope under the new rules -- creating a coordination requirement between the Form DB2 nomination (for the death-in-service lump sum) and the will (for the broader estate, now potentially including AVC values). HR teams that prompt staff to review nominations alongside wills can help prevent the fragmented planning that produces unintended outcomes.

5. Estate Planning as a Wellbeing Intervention in Constrained Budgets

5.1 The Strategic Case for Non-Pay Interventions

The CIPD's September 2025 Analysis of the Public Sector Workforce concluded that workload and staff shortages are perceived as significantly more important in the public sector than in the private sector, and that improving leadership and people management can support retention improvements that may exceed the impact of pay increases alone.9 In a budgetary environment where pay satisfaction sits at 32% in the NHS and 33% in the civil service, non-pay interventions that address genuine employee needs carry disproportionate strategic value.45

Estate planning support falls within this category. Death benefit nomination reviews require no external expenditure -- they involve prompting existing scheme members to complete or update forms already available through scheme websites. Will writing signposting can be delivered through existing EAP channels, staff intranet resources, or partnerships with professional services providers. Estate planning awareness sessions can be incorporated into existing financial wellbeing programmes, many of which already cover pension basics and retirement planning. The CIPD Health and Wellbeing at Work 2025 survey reported average sickness absence of 9.4 days per employee per year, with 67% of organisations providing bereavement support.21 Expanding the scope of financial wellbeing to include estate planning represents an incremental enhancement, not a new programme.

5.2 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Considerations

Estate planning support carries particular DEI significance in the public sector workforce. The intestacy rules under the Administration of Estates Act 1925 (as amended) do not recognise unmarried partners: where a person dies without a valid will and is survived by an unmarried cohabiting partner, the partner has no automatic entitlement under the intestacy rules.23 In a workforce where pay satisfaction is 32-33%, many public sector employees may not have funded private will writing. Employees in non-traditional family structures -- including unmarried partners, blended families, and those with dependants who are not biological children -- face the highest risk of unintended outcomes under both intestacy rules and default pension nomination arrangements.

The interaction between DEI and pension nominations is scheme-specific. In the NHS (non-discretionary), failure to complete Form DB2 means the lump sum passes to the legal spouse or civil partner; an unmarried partner receives nothing unless nominated. In the LGPS (discretionary), the administering authority may exercise discretion to pay to an unmarried partner even without a nomination, but has no obligation to do so.13 HR communications that frame nomination completion as a DEI-aligned activity -- ensuring that all employees, regardless of family structure, have the opportunity to direct their death benefits -- are both technically accurate and strategically appropriate.

5.3 Bereavement Leave and the Broader Legislative Context

The broader legislative context reinforces the strategic case. The Employment Rights Act 2025, which received Royal Assent on 18 December 2025, introduced an expanded statutory right to bereavement leave extending beyond the existing parental bereavement entitlement to cover the death of a wider category of relatives.24 As of February 2026, the bereavement leave provisions have been enacted but not yet brought into force; implementation is expected in 2027, with secondary legislation subject to ongoing consultation on eligibility, notice requirements, and evidence standards.25 Public sector HR teams that anticipate these forthcoming obligations -- connecting bereavement support, financial wellbeing (a strategic priority), and death benefit administration (an existing operational function) -- position their organisations to deliver an integrated framework that serves multiple objectives simultaneously when the provisions commence.

Conclusion

Public sector HR professionals manage pension death benefit administration for a workforce of 6.18 million employees covered by schemes with materially different structures, nomination mechanisms, and IHT consequences. The April 2027 changes resolve a longstanding anomaly that has disadvantaged NHS staff and Northern Ireland teachers through the non-discretionary status of their pension schemes, while simultaneously introducing new complexity through the inclusion of unused pension funds in IHT scope. The operational response required is not a new programme but the integration of estate planning awareness into existing touchpoints: onboarding, life event reviews, Total Reward Statement communications, and wellbeing frameworks. For a workforce reporting 32-33% pay satisfaction and 41% work-related stress, interventions that support financial wellbeing without adding to the pay bill represent precisely the kind of non-pay strategy that CIPD evidence suggests can enhance retention and morale. The convergence of pension administration, financial wellbeing, and the April 2027 IHT reforms creates both the operational infrastructure and the strategic imperative for public sector HR to lead on estate planning support.

CPD Declaration

Estimated Reading Time: 19 minutes Technical Level: Advanced Practice Areas: Public Sector HR, Employee Benefits, Pension Administration, Financial Wellbeing

Learning Objectives

Upon completing this article, practitioners will be able to:

  1. Compare death-in-service benefit structures across the four major public sector pension schemes (NHS 2015, alpha, Teachers' Pension, LGPS), identifying key differences in lump sum calculations, discretionary status, and nomination mechanisms
  2. Analyse the current IHT treatment of discretionary versus non-discretionary public sector pension death benefits and evaluate how the April 2027 changes resolve the existing anomaly
  3. Apply the distinction between financial information and regulated financial advice when designing staff communications about pension death benefits and estate planning
  4. Design a nomination review framework integrated with existing HR touchpoints, including Total Reward Statements, onboarding processes, and annual wellbeing communications

Professional Competency Mapping

  • CIPD Professional Map: People Practice (Core Knowledge -- Reward), Wellbeing (Specialist Knowledge)
  • CIPD Professional Map: Evidence-Based Practice (Core Behaviour)

Reflective Questions

  1. How would you assess the current nomination completion rate across your organisation's pension scheme(s), and what data sources could you use to identify the gap?
  2. What amendments to your onboarding and life event communication processes would be necessary to incorporate the April 2027 IHT changes into routine benefits administration?
  3. How might your organisation's financial wellbeing programme be expanded to include estate planning signposting without crossing the boundary into regulated financial advice?

Professional Disclaimer

The information presented reflects the regulatory and legislative position as of 2026-02-26. Regulations, tax rules, and professional guidance are subject to change. Readers should independently verify all information before acting and seek advice from appropriately qualified solicitors, financial advisors, or other professionals for their specific circumstances.

Neither WUHLD nor the author accepts liability for any actions taken or decisions made based on the content of this article. Professional readers are reminded of their own regulatory obligations and duty of care to their clients.

Footnotes

Footnotes

  1. ONS -- Public Sector Employment, UK: September 2025 (December 2025). https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/publicsectorpersonnel/bulletins/publicsectoremployment/september2025 ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  2. HMRC Inheritance Tax Manual IHTM17058 -- Pensions: IHT Charges: Crown, Local Authorities and Overseas Governments (current). https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/inheritance-tax-manual/ihtm17058 ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9

  3. GOV.UK -- Inheritance Tax on Pensions: Liability, Reporting and Payment -- Summary of Responses (July 2025). https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/inheritance-tax-on-pensions-liability-reporting-and-payment/outcome/inheritance-tax-on-pensions-liability-reporting-and-payment-summary-of-responses ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9

  4. NHS Staff Survey 2024 -- National Results Briefing (March 2025). https://www.nhsstaffsurveys.com/static/c1a573e95b1a49428676ef4b24f5efe7/National-Results-Briefing-2024.pdf ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  5. GOV.UK -- Civil Service People Survey 2024: Results Highlights (January 2025). https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-people-survey-2024-results/civil-service-people-survey-2024-results-highlights ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  6. NHS Employers -- Death in Service Benefits for the NHS Pension Scheme (2020, updated 2025). https://www.nhsemployers.org/publications/death-service-benefits-nhs-pension-scheme ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  7. Teachers' Pensions -- Death in Service (2023, updated 2025). https://www.teacherspensions.co.uk/members/working-life/life-events/death-in-service.aspx ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  8. LGPS Member -- What Death Grant Is Paid If I Die When I Am Still Paying Into the LGPS? (2014, updated 2025). https://www.lgpsmember.org/faqs/what-death-grant-is-paid-if-i-die-when-i-am-paying-into-the-lgps/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  9. CIPD -- Analysis of the Public Sector Workforce (September 2025). https://www.cipd.org/uk/knowledge/reports/analysis-public-sector-workforce/ ↩ ↩2

  10. NHSBSA -- Nominations (May 2025). https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/member-hub/nominations ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  11. Civil Service Pension Scheme -- Death While You Are in Service, Section 06B (2015, updated 2025). https://www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk/knowledge-centre/pension-schemes/alpha-scheme-guide/death-benefits-section-06/death-while-you-are-in-service-section-06b/ ↩ ↩2

  12. Civil Service Pension Scheme -- Death Benefit Nomination (current). https://www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk/your-pension/managing-your-pension/death-benefit-nomination/ ↩ ↩2

  13. LGPS Member -- Who Is a Death Grant Paid To? (2014, updated 2025). https://www.lgpsmember.org/faqs/who-is-a-death-grant-paid-to/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  14. Sackers -- IHT and Pension Death Benefits: The Road to 2027 (2025). https://www.sackers.com/blog/pensions-and-inheritance-tax/ ↩

  15. GOV.UK -- Inheritance Tax on Pensions: Liability, Reporting and Payment -- Summary of Responses, para on public sector schemes (July 2025). https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/inheritance-tax-on-pensions-liability-reporting-and-payment/outcome/inheritance-tax-on-pensions-liability-reporting-and-payment-summary-of-responses ↩

  16. GOV.UK -- Inheritance Tax: Unused Pension Funds and Death Benefits (Policy Paper, October 2024, updated July 2025). https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/inheritance-tax-unused-pension-funds-and-death-benefits/inheritance-tax-unused-pension-funds-and-death-benefits ↩ ↩2

  17. Wills Act 1837, s 18A (as inserted by the Administration of Justice Act 1982, s 18(2)). https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Will4and1Vict/7/26/section/18A ↩

  18. NHS Employers -- Total Reward Statements (2025). https://www.nhsemployers.org/articles/total-reward-statements ↩

  19. NHS Employers -- Get Ready for the 2025 TRS Roll Out (2025). https://www.nhsemployers.org/news/get-ready-2025-trs-roll-out ↩

  20. NHS Employers -- NHS Health and Wellbeing Framework (current). https://www.nhsemployers.org/publications/nhs-health-and-wellbeing-framework ↩

  21. CIPD -- Health and Wellbeing at Work 2025 (September 2025). https://www.cipd.org/uk/knowledge/reports/health-well-being-work/ ↩ ↩2

  22. GOV.UK -- Inheritance Tax Thresholds (current; NRB frozen at GBP 325,000 through 2029-30 per Finance Act 2025). https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/inheritance-tax-thresholds/inheritance-tax-thresholds ↩

  23. Administration of Estates Act 1925, s 46 (as amended by the Inheritance and Trustees' Powers Act 2014). https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo5/15-16/23/section/46 ↩

  24. Employment Rights Act 2025, s 18 (Royal Assent 18 December 2025). https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2025/36/section/18 ↩

  25. Acas -- Employment Rights Act 2025: Bereavement Leave (current). https://www.acas.org.uk/employment-rights-act-2025 ↩

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