The general secretary of the Trades Union Congress said figures from the department for work and pensions that revealed 25 per cent of all private sector DB schemes do not recognise people in same-sex relationships showed that discrimination was “widespread”.
He said: “It is disgraceful that some widowers, surviving civil partners and same-sex spouses are losing out on thousands of pounds of retirement income, simply because of their gender or sexual orientation.
“This discrimination is especially widespread in the private sector, where one in four defined benefit schemes discriminate against same-sex couples.”
He said the £400m cost to their private sector schemes is equivalent to just 0.03 per cent of pension liabilities. While the costs across public sector schemes are greater, the £2.7bn in extra liabilities that would be paid out over several decades is easily affordable.
