From April, millions of women working in local government across the UK will see tangible improvements to their pension entitlements. This shift comes as part of a wider governmental effort to address the gender pension gap, an inequality many experts say has long penalised women for taking time away from work to care for children.
The reforms are targeted at women in frontline public roles, including school cooks, street cleaners, librarians and administrative staff. With nearly three-quarters of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) members being women, the changes are expected to impact a considerable portion of the workforce.
Maternity Leave to Be Pensionable Under New Rules
A core component of the reform package is the decision to make unpaid additional maternity, adoption and shared parental leave automatically pensionable. This step addresses one of the most persistent contributors to the gender pension gap: interrupted pension contributions due to time taken off for family responsibilities.
According to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, unpaid maternity leave has historically left women with reduced retirement savings, with knock-on effects that accumulate over decades. Torsten Bell, Minister for Pensions, stated that these changes mean “taking time out to care for a new baby will no longer cost them their pension security,” describing the reforms as a way to build a system that “properly values the vital contribution of working women across our public services.”
Independent financial planners have broadly welcomed the move. Jess Best of McLaren Capital explained that these changes would allow women to build up private pension savings more effectively, noting that “what starts as a relatively small hit early on quietly compounds.” She also highlighted the importance of similar initiatives within the private sector, where the pension gap remains even wider.
Legal Amendments to Broaden Equality and Access
Beyond maternity-related changes, the government is introducing several legal adjustments to correct disparities within survivor benefits and pension entitlements. One of these includes the removal of a regulation that led to survivors in same-sex marriages and civil partnerships receiving more generous pension rights than their opposite-sex counterparts. According to the Department for Work and Pensions, all such discrepancies will now be removed, ensuring parity regardless of relationship type.
A further update eliminates an age-based restriction that previously disqualified survivors from receiving a lump sum if the scheme member had died after the age of 75. Under the new rules, this cap will be removed, allowing equal consideration for all surviving partners.
Efforts are also underway to retain members within the LGPS. The government has committed to strengthening data collection on opt-outs, in an attempt to understand and address the reasons individuals leave the scheme.
Alison McGovern, Minister for Local Government and Homelessness, commented that it was “shocking that this gender imbalance in our pension system has persisted so long,” and expressed hope that the reforms would help correct “historic inequality” for public sector workers who have been undervalued for years.
The Trades Union Congress also welcomed the reforms. According to General Secretary Paul Nowak, “everyone deserves a decent quality of life in retirement,” and these changes represent an “important step forward” for millions of women working in public service.
