The next step

Death of employee

[Policy]

Advising employee has died

[Letter]

Dealing with the death of an employee

ONS figures

The latest figures from the ONS indicate that deaths in the UK have been 20% above the five-year average and over 600,000 people are expected to die in the next twelve months.

It’s therefore possible that you may be faced with the death of an employee. This could be following a short or long illness or sudden and unexpected.

Your policy

There’s no law which covers how you should deal with an employee’s death . Instead, it’s for you to navigate your way through this unfortunate situation and how you do so will depend on the circumstances and the wishes of the deceased’s family or next of kin.

However, so that there are some guidelines laid down in advance, you should have a death of an employee policy in place (see The next step ).

Some guidelines

The first step you should always take is to liaise with the deceased’s family or next of kin to offer your condolences and find out how they wish to proceed. You should also ascertain what information they are agreeable to you sharing with staff.

Having done this, you should inform staff about the employee’s death . Start with their immediate colleagues and then move on to the wider workforce. Unless it’s unavoidable, it’s best to disclose this information to the deceased’s immediate colleagues personally and not via email.

Tip. It’s also possible that you will need to advise close external contacts, e.g. clients, customers and suppliers, and third parties, e.g. your payroll provider, about the death of an employee (see The next step ).

Attending the funeral

Often, colleagues will ask if they can attend the funeral. Even if you are aware of the funeral arrangements, always check with the deceased’s family or next of kin about colleagues attending the funeral as this may not be practical or wanted.

If their attendance is welcomed, consider who will be allowed time off work to attend the funeral, i.e. anybody who wants to attend or one or two employees who will represent your firm. Remember that employees may take it badly if they are welcome at the funeral, but are denied time off work to attend.

Tip. Don’t make any final salary payment direct to the deceased’s surviving spouse, partner or next of kin. This forms part of the deceased’s estate and must only be paid to their personal representative. Where the deceased had a will, this will be the executor; if they died without a will this will be the administrator of their estate who is usually their next of kin. You can make the final salary payment into the deceased’s bank account as its control passes to their personal representative.

For a death of an employee policy and a letter advising that an employee has died, visit https://www.tips-and-advice.co.uk , Download Zone, year 25 issue 14.