Additional unpaid maternity leave is to become automatically pensionable under changes to the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) coming into force from April.
Several changes to LGPS rules are set to be introduced, aimed at addressing the gender pension gap within the system. One of the main causes of the gap is women taking maternity leave.
Other changes include mandatory reporting of gender pension gap data, as well as making shared parental leave and adoption leave pensionable.
“It’s vital we see more action to close the gender pensions pay gap across the whole workforce.”
Paul Nowak, Trades Union Congress
In a press release from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, the department stated that the maternity leave change was “a critical step” in closing the gender pensions gap. Around three quarters of LGPS members are women.
Paul Nowak, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, said the gender pension gap results in women being “pushed into hardship”, and hailed the rule changes as “an important step forward”.
“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,” Nowak added.
Torsten Bell, the pensions minister, said: “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.”
From April, the changes will result in backdated payments and increased future pension payments to surviving partners of LGPS members. Changes are also being made to ensure equality between those in same-sex marriages, civil partnerships, and opposite-sex marriages.
