The earlier Gender Pensions Gap report for LGPS identified a substantial difference between the average level of LGPS pension benefits accrued by male and female scheme members. The difference between men and women as to their accrued benefits in the Local Government Pension Scheme is 34.7% for benefits in the reformed CARE scheme and 46.4% for benefits in the legacy final salary scheme. For benefits in payment the difference was even greater (49%).

While this potentially indicates some progress towards equality, the Board asked the Government Actuary’s Department (GAD) to explore these gender gaps in more depth, focussing on:

This further report sets out GAD’s findings. Essentially there is no simple answer and there seems to be a complex interaction between the types of work women do, their career patterns (in terms of part-time working and gaps in service) and their ability to progress their careers after having taken on childcare or other caring responsibilities. The report shows, for example, that:

There is as yet no settled approach to data and methodological issues that would allow detailed comparisons to be drawn between gender gaps with different public sector pension schemes. The Board has therefore proposed that GAD put in place a common reporting framework for all of the public sector schemes, potentially working this into the quadrennial scheme valuation process. Similarly, we believe that the relationship between gender pay and pension gaps reporting needs to be addressed to allow for greater transparency and understanding.

Of course, the main question is what does the Board do with this information? The Board has decided to up a small working group to consider next steps. For example:

If you are interested in taking part in the working group, then please 2019 contact the SAB Secretariat directly.