In a meeting on 28 July 2025, Councillor George Finch, Deputy Leader of the Council, approved the Warwickshire Pension Fund's response to the Ministry for Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) Access and Fairness consultation. The consultation addresses historic inequalities, particularly around survivors' pensions, and aims to lower the gender pensions gap. The Warwickshire Pension Fund's response includes concerns about the increased workload for the Pensions Administration Service and the need for clear guidance from MHCLG.

Local Government Pension Scheme Consultation Response

Councillor George Finch approved the Warwickshire Pension Fund's response to the Ministry for Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) Access and Fairness consultation.

The consultation includes proposed amendments to the LGPS regulations that will affect how the scheme is administered. The key proposed changes to the LGPS are:

• Survivor Benefits Equalisation: Aligning pension rights for survivors in all types of marriages and civil partnerships, backdated to 2005, and removing the requirement to nominate a cohabiting partner.
• Gender Pensions Gap: Addressing the causes of the gender pensions gap in the LGPS, particularly how career breaks and part-time work affect pension outcomes. The proposals would make authorised absences of work of less than 31 days automatically pensionable and remove the requirement for employers to remind staff of the pension buy back cost.
• Opt-Outs and Member Engagement: Gathering evidence and data from LGPS Funds and employers on why members opt-out of the LGPS and considering measures to reduce opt-out rates, particularly among lower paid workers.
• Forfeiture Rules: Clarifying the rules around forfeiture of pension benefits to ensure forfeiture is applied fairly and consistently. The proposals include a change to the LGPS regulations to remove the requirement for an individual to have left employment for potential forfeiture to apply.
• Other proposed changes: Small amendments to the implementation of the McCloud remedy¹ and various anomalies and inconsistencies in the regulations have been amended after they were identified by the Scheme Advisory Board.

The Warwickshire Pension Fund agrees with the proposed changes set out in the consultation. However, the responses aim to make clear concerns with the increased workload for the Pensions Administration Service, particularly with the scheme member tracing and volume of calculations required to back date the proposals. The fund also noted the need for MHCLG to provide clear guidance on delivering the changes in a reasonable regulatory timeframe.

The deadline to respond to the consultation is 7 August 2025.

The Warwickshire Pension Fund provided specific responses to the consultation's questions, including:

• Expressing concern about the successful completion of backdated cases arising from the equalisation of survivor benefits. They requested clarification on the order of priority for addressing these cases, along with a reasonable regulatory timeline.
• Welcoming further clarification on how LGPS Funds should proceed in circumstances where the necessary beneficiary information cannot be obtained.
• Supporting the proposal to remove the two-year limit on the payment of death grants, believing it will simplify the administration of such payments and provide greater flexibility for Funds.
• Agreeing that using actual lost pay is a fairer and more accurate method for calculating contributions in cases of unpaid leave under 31 days.
• Disagreeing with the proposed one-year timeframe for buying back unpaid leave pension absences, suggesting a shorter timeframe of 6 months would be preferable.
• Expressing reservations regarding the proposed threshold of 100 employees for determining which employers are required to report gender pensions gap data. They believe excluding smaller employers would limit the effectiveness of the reporting.
• Anticipating potential issues with data accuracy in cases where members opt out of the scheme within three months and are refunded at source by the employer.
• Noting that data on opt-outs is likely to be sporadic and incomplete, which may limit the reliability of any analysis based on such data.