The news that a gay man has lost a legal bid for his husband to be recognised with the same pension rights as a wife would have in a heterosexual relationship means the controversial subject of same-sex marriage and pensions has again resurfaced. Comments from David Brooks, Technical Director, Broadstone.

There have been many advances in same-sex marriage rules over recent years, but again the antiquated way that pension schemes operate means that survivors of a same sex marriage are not entitled to the same death benefits. This is dreadfully unfair and must be resolved. The Courts have ruled that a deceased member’s survivor does not have rights beyond the statutory minimum (described below) to death benefits.

The reason why the Government has ignored this is due to contracted out rights; these have had different rules since their introduction in 1978, such that survivor benefits were not equalised until 1988. This means that a man surviving his wife (who had been a member of a contracted out scheme between 1978 and 1988) would not receive a pension for this period of service. However, a woman surviving her husband, would receive a pension. The Government believes this inequality would need to be fixed as well if you equalised same-sex marriage.

So, with the introduction of same-sex marriage and the following calls to make it the same for as for opposite sex couples isn’t quite so simple as there are inherent differences in the system which would need to be corrected. The Government has been reviewing this for some time, and its review currently resides in the long grass. However, I believe it should be dug out, dusted off and the clear conclusion be reached that irrespective of the gender of two people who have married they should receive the same pension rights when their loved one dies.