Two civil service unions have called on ministers to implement structural pension reforms to reduce the gender pension gap in the Civil Service Pension Scheme, arguing that lessons from the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) show meaningful change is both possible and affordable.
In a joint letter to Anna Turley, minister of state at the Cabinet Office, Prospect and the FDA warned that the gap in pension outcomes for retired civil servants was “unacceptably high”.
The unions highlighted data from Prospect’s latest annual report, which put the UK’s gender pension gap at 36.5% in 2022-23, while a separate Department for Work and Pensions release estimated a 48% gender disparity in private pension wealth. The Civil Service Pension Scheme, however, showed a 45% gap on comparable metrics.
The unions’ letter argued that this persistent inequality cannot be solved through pay reforms alone, stating: “If the rules of the scheme better reflected the working lives of women (and also some men) with caring responsibilities, this would greatly reduce the disparity in outcomes.”
Mind the gap: Pensions Commission urged to act on gender inequality
Unions call for GAD review
Prospect and the FDA urged the Cabinet Office to commission the Government Actuary’s Department (GAD) to analyse the causes of the gap and set out recommendations. They argued that this should begin a process that delivers reforms equivalent to those already consulted on for the LGPS in England and Wales and under consideration in Scotland.
Their letter pointed to four LGPS proposals that together amount to “the most comprehensive attempt to tackle the gender pension gap in any occupational pension scheme in the country”.
These include making short unpaid absences automatically pensionable, pensioning unpaid statutory parental leave, simplifying the process for buying back missed service, and mandatory gender pension gap reporting.
GAD’s analysis for the LGPS suggests the cost of making unpaid statutory parental leave pensionable could be under £1m a year. The unions said the same would be true for the Civil Service Pension Scheme, adding that “there does not appear to be any reason why some of the LGPS proposals could not be adopted”.
The intervention places fresh pressure on ministers to consider targeted pension design changes, rather than relying solely on labour market measures such as narrowing the gender pay gap. The unions also challenged past Treasury views that scheme rules play only a limited role, noting that international and UK evidence showed caring responsibilities remain a major driver of long-term disparities.
More than 3,000 members have already backed a petition supporting LGPS-style reforms. The Civil Service Pension Scheme has approximately 1.7 million members and paid out around £8bn in pensions in the 2023-24 financial year, according to government figures.
