On 2 February 2026 the Government issued the outcome of the LGPS: Access and fairness consultation (“Consultation”). The Consultation focused on four core policy areas and a number of additional technical areas with the aim of “fixing historic problems in the scheme and to look to the future.” This alert focuses on the changes planned to correct the discriminatory treatment of survivor’s benefits, the steps that will be taken to close the pensions gender gap, and the clarifications and guidance that will be produced on the use of forfeiture in The Local Government Pension Scheme Regulations 2013 (“Regulations”) and The Local Government Pension Scheme (Amendment) (No. 3) Regulations 2023 (“2023 Regulations”).

Survivor benefits

With regard to survivors benefits, the Government intends to:

• remove the requirement for a signed nomination form in the case of qualifying cohabitee survivors;
• remove the age 75 cut-off on eligibility for death grants; and
• remove the requirement for administering authorities to pay death grants within 2 years of the members death.

With regards to the removal of the discriminatory treatment arising as a result of sexual orientation discrimination following the case of Goodwin v Secretary of State for Education [2020], the proposed equalisation is to uplift the survivors benefits of:

• widows of opposite sex spouses for deaths that occurred from 5 December 2005;
• widows of same-sex spouses for deaths that occurred from 14 March 2014; and
• for survivors of opposite-sex civil partnerships for deaths that occurred from 31 December 2019.

It is intended that all future deaths will be treated in line with these changes once the updated legislation is introduced. For deaths prior to the introduction of the new legislation, MHCLS (Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government) expects administering authorities to treat those cases in line with the timings set out in guidance and/or the final regulations.

MHCLS also recognised the need for guidance as a consequence of the complexity of administering and revisiting a number of related benefits such as the treatment of child pensions where no survivors pension was previously paid to a partner (who would now qualify), trivial commutations (including tax implications on backdated payment), GMP’s (Guaranteed Minimum Pensions) for male survivors, the impact on transferred out values, cost cap calculations, and interest on backdated payments. Other practical issues include missing membership data, tracing and contacting survivors, and fraud considerations. The consultation response states that the government will work with the Scheme Advisory Board to produce guidance on these issues in due course.

Addressing the gender pensions gap

To address the gender pensions gap the government intends to:

• make authorised unpaid absences under 15 days automatically pensionable (new regulation 11(5) refers to a “continuous period of less than 15 days);
• make the cost of buying back authorised unpaid leave over 14 days the same as what a member would have paid had they not taken any leave, and to extend the time limit to buy back pension that has been ‘lost’ in this way from 30 days to 1 year. It was recognised, however, that this would create uncertainty in respect of members who leave employment before the 1-year deadline and so the government intends to amend Regulation 16(6) to extend to the current 30 day limit to the sooner of 1 year or when the member leaves employment;
• make additional maternity leave, additional adoption leave and shared parental leave during which no pay is received automatically pensionable, with the cost to be met by the employer (noting the same ‘less than 15 days’ period). This amendment will come into effect for leave takers on or after 1st April 2026 and guidance is anticipated on how this should be implemented;
• for the period 2025 – 2028:
  • make gender pensions gap reporting mandatory but in limited form, focusing on “pensions accrued to date”;
  • actuarial reports will only need to split the gender gap reporting between employer category groups (as are already defined by SF3 reporting); and
  • reporting will not be required within the rates and adjustment certificate, but can be included in its own section within the actuarial valuation report; and
• from 1 April 2028 the gap reporting definition will move towards pension accrued “over a typical working life”. The Government has also confirmed it will work with GAD (Government Actuaries Department) to provide clarity on how “over a typical working life” should be defined.

Owing to mixed consultation responses, the government does not intend the remove the three-year limit on compulsory employer contributions on unpaid leave entirely but will instead allow scheme employers to continue to contribute beyond three years on a discretionary basis.

Forfeiture

To address a number of calls for clarity and guidance on the forfeiture powers, the Government will:

• amend regulations 91 and 93 of the Regulations to remove the requirement that the member must have left employment because of the offence before an employer can make an application for forfeiture;
• revoke the current time limit of three months within which a forfeiture application needs to be made, such that no time limit will apply (in keeping with the other public sector pension schemes);
• revoke Regulation 92 (scheme employers to make an interim payment where a member has left the scheme because of an offence in connection with employment to which a forfeiture application may or has arisen). It was recognised that this was rarely, if at all, used and that many employers were concerned about how they might stop members from transferring their benefits out of the scheme in anticipation of a forfeiture direction, but before the direction comes into force. The government acknowledged this concern and has stated it intends to implement further changes to remove this risk;
• adopt and apply all of the above changes to benefits accrued in all the (current and former) LGPS Schemes; and
• produce guidance on forfeiture to assist employers in making applications that will address:
  • eligibility criteria;
  • evidential expectations;
  • expected timelines, decision-making and communications;
  • appeals and legal challenges;
  • dealing with members who ask to transfer out or take benefits whilst an application is pending; and
  • cases where monetary loss to the employer has occurred.

How Capsticks can help

At Capsticks, our pensions team has extensive experience advising on all aspects of public service pension schemes, including the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS). 

If you are concerned about the impact of any of the proposed changes mentioned in this insight, particularly with regard to live or planned outsourcing exercises, please contact Kate Beech.