From April, the government will introduce reforms to the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) aimed at narrowing the gender pension gap. In a GOV.UK announcement, ministers said millions of women working across councils, schools and libraries will see stronger pension outcomes as time away for caring is recognised.

The headline change is simple but powerful: unpaid additional maternity, shared parental and adoption leave will become automatically pensionable. That removes a common penalty where a period of unpaid leave reduced pension accrual, a hit that has typically fallen on lower‑paid staff and part‑time workers.

The LGPS has nearly seven million members and around three‑quarters are women, according to the Department for Levelling Up. Making unpaid additional maternity leave pensionable is expected to be one of the most meaningful interventions for those stepping out of work to care for a new baby.

Think of a school cook who takes nine months’ maternity leave plus an extra three months unpaid. Under the new rules, those three unpaid months will count towards her pension without extra paperwork, preserving future retirement income. The same treatment will apply to shared parental and adoption leave, helping modern family arrangements.

Transparency is being tightened too. Gender pension gap reporting will become statutory for the LGPS, shifting from voluntary disclosures to mandated data. Consistent reporting should help funds and councils identify weak spots and target support where it will have the biggest impact.

Survivor benefits are being levelled so partners receive the same entitlement regardless of the sex of the member or the legal form of the relationship. Where needed, backdated adjustments and higher future payments will be used to put eligible survivors on an equal footing.

Officials say gaps in existing regulations led to cases where people in same‑sex marriages or civil partnerships received more generous pensions than those in opposite‑sex relationships. The reform removes discrimination on that basis and creates a single, clearer standard across the scheme.

Another practical fix: the rule that a member had to die before age 75 for their survivor to receive a lump sum will go. In future, a survivor may receive a lump sum whether their partner died before or after 75, reflecting longer working lives and later retirements.

The government also wants to keep more people in the scheme. Administrators will collect better data on why workers opt out-whether affordability, job moves or misunderstanding-so funds can respond with targeted communications and support.

Ministers frame the package as overdue. Alison McGovern said the changes will give cleaners, librarians and school cooks greater security in retirement, while Pensions Minister Torsten Bell argued women should not face a long‑term penalty for having children. The TUC’s Paul Nowak welcomed the steps and urged ministers to extend similar protections across the wider public sector.

For households, there is no immediate change to pay packets, but lifetime value improves as more periods count towards pension accrual and survivor rules are simpler and fairer. For council HR and payroll teams, the priority now is updating systems for unpaid leave, reviewing survivor cases that may need backdating, and refreshing staff communications so workers understand what’s changing and when.