Millions of women working in local government are set to see a boost to their retirement income under new pension reforms coming into force this April, as the
government steps up efforts to close the long-standing gender pension gap.
The changes will directly benefit frontline public service workers — including school cooks, cleaners, librarians and street cleaners — many of whom are women and have historically faced lower pension outcomes due to career breaks for caring responsibilities.
At the heart of the reforms is a move to make gender pension gap reporting mandatory, alongside a major change to maternity and family leave rules. Unpaid additional maternity leave, shared parental leave and adoption leave will now automatically count towards pension contributions, helping prevent women from falling behind financially after having children.
Women make up around three-quarters of the Local Government Pension Scheme’s nearly seven million members, and maternity leave is one of the biggest contributors to the pension gap. Campaigners have long argued that unpaid leave has unfairly penalised women’s retirement security.
Minister for Local Government and Homelessness, Alison McGovern said: “It is shocking that this gender imbalance in our pension system has persisted so long, and I am proud that these reforms will help correct this historic inequality.
These crucial changes will give hard working cleaners, librarians, school cooks and other public servants the security in retirement they deserve”.
Minister for Pensions Torsten Bell said: “For too long, women have been penalised in retirement simply for having children.
These reforms mean that for millions of women working in local government, taking time out to care for a new baby will no longer cost them their pension security.
This is about a pension system that works for modern families and properly values the vital contribution of working women across our public services”.
TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: “Everyone deserves a decent quality of life in retirement, but the gender pension gap means that too many women are pushed into hardship.
It’s not right. That’s why these measures are an important step forward - they will make a meaningful difference for millions of women working in local government, helping them to build up a decent pension.
It’s now vital we see more action to close the gender pensions pay gap across the whole workforce, including by extending this approach to the rest of the public sector”.
The reforms go beyond maternity leave. New rules will introduce backdated and higher future pension payments to ensure surviving partners receive equal treatment, regardless of whether they were in a same-sex or opposite-sex marriage or civil partnership. Existing regulations had led to inconsistencies in survivor benefits.
Another change removes the current age cap that prevents survivors from receiving a lump-sum payment if an LGPS member dies after the age of 75.
The government is also aiming to keep more people enrolled in the pension scheme by improving data collection on why members opt out, helping ensure as many workers as possible benefit from the reforms.
Together, ministers say, the measures represent a significant step toward a fairer pension system that properly values the contribution of women across public services. Photo by Adam Jones Adam63, Wikimedia commons.