Government Response to the LGPS ‘Access and Fairness’ consultation

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has published its formal response to the ‘Access and Fairness’ consultation, that closed on 7 August 2025. Consultation feedback has been taken into account, resulting in several adjustments to the original proposals. To help manage the administrative impact on LGPS Funds, it plans to phase in the proposed changes, prioritising areas where it believes there is existing discrimination.

Phase one changes will come into effect on 1 April 2026, while phase two will follow later in the year.

Some of the main changes in phase one that may affect you as LGPS members are listed below:

Survivors Benefits & Death Grants

• Equalisation of survivor benefits (no gender-based differences), with some calculations backdated to 5 December 2005
• Removal of the age 75 limit for death grant eligibility (backdated to deaths from 1 April 2014)
• Removal of the requirement to nominate cohabiting partners to receive a survivor’s pension under the 2008 Scheme

Gender Pensions Gap

• Automatically making authorised absences of under 15 days pensionable
• Aligning the cost of buying back pension for longer absences with standard member contribution rates
• Extending the buy-back election window from 30 days to 12 months, provided the member remains in the same employment
• Updating the definition of child-related leave to include all unpaid additional maternity, adoption and share paternal leave

We will continue to update you as soon as further information becomes available, including when the legislation is laid in March and the changes planned for phase two.