Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to tackle the gender pension gap in the civil service.

The Civil Service pension schemes are some of the most generous pension schemes available in the UK, utilising defined benefit arrangements and contractual enrolment to ensure those who dedicate their working lives to public service are rewarded appropriately in retirement. The vast majority of private sector employers utilise defined contribution arrangements and automatic enrolment therefore a comparative assessment of the gender pension gaps could be misleading as it doesn’t account for the overall generosity of the schemes.

The gender pension gap can be measured in different ways. Based on the latest data available, from 2024, the gap has reduced from 47% in 2016 to 42%. This is based on the difference in average pension in payment for men and women, expressed as a percentage of the average pension for men. We fully expect this position to continue to improve as the equality employment legislation reduces historical differences in both the gap in pay and pensions accruing.

The Cabinet Office will be commissioning the Government Actuary’s Department to carry out further analysis of the current position and will then consider next steps.