The government has instructed public service pension schemes to amend their processes to enable the provision of equal benefits for civil partners and same-sex spouses.

This judgement has been made in response to last year’s Supreme Court ruling on equal pension benefits for same-sex partners in the event of a scheme member’s death. The Supreme Court’s Walker v Innospec case in July 2017 terminated pension schemes’ ability to restrict benefits for same-sex partners to service since 5 December 2005, the date that the Civil Partnership Act was implemented.

In addition pension schemes were required to provide equal benefits to civil partners and same-sex spouses.

After considering the implications that this ruling will have on public service pension schemes, Ministers have told parliament that the Treasury finally wrote to these schemes on 21 March to outline the policy approach that should be taken. The Treasury instructed public service schemes to make changes to their processes to enable the change.

Schemes are expected to provide additional information on their approach and the timescale for implementation of same-sex benefits in due course.

Nonetheless, the Treasury has confirmed this it will not “extend the same equal treatment to women scheme members in opposite-sex marriages who would want their male partners to receive their pension benefits in the event of their death,” Prospect explained.

This is because equal survivor benefits for male and female scheme members are required only from May 1990 and public service pension schemes already comply with this. The costs of backdating survivors’ pensions (estimated £1bn) beyond this date for male survivors of opposite-sex marriages may have also impacted the Treasury’s judgement on this area, Prospect suggested.

Prospect deputy general secretary Garry Graham said: “It’s welcome that the Treasury has finally responded to the Supreme Court judgment in Walker v Innospec and told public sector pension schemes to equalise benefits for same-sex partners.

“However the decision to allow discrimination against female scheme members to continue is wrong and should be reviewed by ministers.”

Earlier this month, the Department for Education (DfE) announced that it has equalised survivor benefits for both male and female same-sex couples in the Teachers’ Pension Scheme, but has not updated the rules for heterosexual female teachers and their male widowers.

In an update published 9 April on the Teachers’ Pensions website, the DfE said it had updated the rules following the Supreme Court ruling on the case Walker v Innospec.

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