TUC urges government to remove last hurdle to equality for same -sex couples

date: 25 June 2015

embargo:00.01hrs Friday 26 June

On the anniversary today (Friday) of the government’s review into survivor benefits in occupational pensions, the TUC is urging ministers to remove one of the last legal hurdles to equality for same-sex couples.

Surviving civil partners and same-sex couples are often left thousands of pounds worse off than a widow would be when their partner passes away.

Although civil partners and same-sex spouses now have the right to claim a survivor pension from a defined benefit pension scheme, it only applies from 2005 onwards and contributions before this date don’t count.

Last year, the government carried out a review of the inequalities in survivor pensions as it was required to do by the equal marriage legislation. Its findings were published a year ago today but it has still not made a decision on whether to end the discrimination.This is despite the review showing that the costs of equalising would be negligible for most schemes.

The TUC estimates that there are about 70,000 members of defined benefit pension schemes in the private sector alone who would leave behind a surviving civil partner or same-sex spouse. About one in four schemes do not treat same-sex survivors equally to widows.

Peter Armstrong-Luckhurst met his husband Kristofer in 1990. They entered a civil partnership in 2009 and converted to marriage in December 2014. He has contributed for 16 years to an NHS pension scheme and bought another four years’ worth of ‘pension credits’.

He said: “In the event of my death before Kris his pension is assessed as £793.18 per annum. An opposite sex widow would receive a half pension, £5,585.91 per annum. That is a difference of about £4,800 per year if Kris survives me.

“Hypothetically, I could divorce Kris in the last few weeks of my life and take a heterosexual partner who would be placed at a significant advantage, as a wife of a few weeks, compared to my husband, who has been my partner of nearly 25 years.”

TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Pensions law is discriminating against same-sex couples and those in civil partnerships, purely on the basis of their sexual orientation.

“It is a scandal that people are losing thousands of pounds every year simply because they have a same-sex spouse or have a civil partner.

“The government must remove the last hurdle to equality under the law and bring an end to the discrimination that could leave thousands of people in poverty at a time when they are grieving for a loved one.”

The TUC is urging people to sign a petition, hosted by All Out, calling on the government to ensure that pension schemes give widowers, same-sex couples and civil partners equal survivor pensions.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

- 26 June 2015 is exactly one year since the government published the findings of its review of inequalities in survivor pensions.

- The All Out petition is available at https://go.allout.org/en/a/equal-pensions/

- If you are interested in talking to case studies of individuals affected by discrimination or companies that have equalised survivor pensions, please contact the TUC press office.

- Survivor pensions are among the issues that will be discussed at the TUC’s LGBT conference which takes place on 25 and 26 June.

- Some widowers are also losing out compared to widows. Only women’s pension contributions from either 1990, if they worked in the private sector, or from 1988 if they were employed in the public sector, count towards a survivor pension for their husbands.

- A case that will challenge the discrimination in survivor pensions in the private sector will be heard at the Court of Appeal on 29 and 30 June. John Walker who had 23 years of service in his defined benefit pension scheme has challenged the discrimination in the courts. If he was married to a woman all of this service would count and she would be entitled to a survivor pension worth £41,000 a year but his civil partner will only be entitled to a survivor pension worth about £500 a year if he predeceases him.

- A TUC briefing on survivor pensions is available at https://www.tuc.org.uk/sites/default/files/SurvivorPensionsBriefing.pdf

- All TUC press releases can be found at www.tuc.org.uk
- Follow the TUC on Twitter: @tucnews