Pensions

UNISON members are represented across the local government pension funds and the NHS pension scheme governance bodies. The union monitors and raises any concerns about their administration, and seeks to make improvements, such as changes to reduce the gender pension gap and better protections for outsourced workers. UNISON responds to consultations on potential changes to the pension schemes.  

In the funded local government pension scheme (LGPS), UNISON reps also promote the wishes of scheme members about investment policies. 

UNISON has provided evidence to the government in relation to its pensions scheme bill. This includes a move to greater pooling of these funds and changes in how investment decisions are made, and UNISON is concerned about retaining and improving accountability to scheme members in the pooling arrangements. 

We organise and campaign to oppose removal of groups of members from defined benefit (DB) schemes by individual employers. And we resist attacks by employers in sectors such as housing and higher education where they seek to move members out of the LGPS. We also oppose the use of subcos and other organisational forms to deny health workers access to the NHS scheme.  

The public sector pension schemes provide secure retirement incomes for members. The average pensions in payment are modest but, with the state pension, it provides the prospect of a good retirement for members. 

UNISON is concerned about the inadequacy of projected retirement incomes from many defined contribution (DC) savings arrangements. The government found that the incomes of retirees are set to fall over the next few decades if nothing changes, so in July 2025, it launched a Pensions Commission to make recommendations for change. UNISON is contributing evidence to this commission, and is highlighting the need for an improved minimum employer contribution. (The UK is currently an outlier internationally in requiring a lower minimum contribution from employers (3%) than the 5% required of employees.) 

Over 100,000 UNISON members are in DC arrangements, working for employers including charities, private companies providing services to public authorities, water and energy companies. The quality of these arrangements varies, and we are campaigning to improve employer contribution levels.  

We have produced a brief bargaining agenda for reps and activists to help address the inadequacies of DC schemes. There is also a guide to organising around pensions specifically in Higher Education.      

UNISON supports the ‘triple lock’, which has been in operation since 2012.   

It is important to future pensioners that the state pension retains and increases its value – especially given the inadequacy of many DC workplace saving arrangements. The triple lock is sometimes described as generous, but UNISON has pointed out that it has actually worked out to be less generous than the previous process of uprating with Retail Price Index inflation, and that some of the proposed reforms to the triple lock might not work well in practice.  

UNISON believes the state pension age should be reduced to 65, and we responded to the independent review. The response includes powerful case studies from UNISON members highlighting the demands of working in essential services and the difficulties of continuing deep into your 60s. The response also highlights the worsening life-expectancy projections which no longer justify increasing the state pension age. It also draws attention to the likelihood that the increase to 67 beginning in April 2026 will increase poverty rates amongst 66-year-olds through lack of employment opportunities and the inadequacy of working age benefits.    

The state pension age should be a fixed and widely-known figure, but for a generation of women born in the 1950s, policy changes saw the age at which they could access their state pension quickly jump from 60 to 66. UNISON supports the WASPI campaign and the need for compensation to be paid to women in relation to government failings in the communication of these increases.    

The state pension is paid at a flat rate such that pay inequalities are not reflected in the amount received.  We support the extension of eligibility criteria to recognise unpaid care work. We would be keen to go further and reward unpaid carers with a supplementary payment on top of the state pension.  

UNISON is pursuing avenues to reduce the gender pension gap through changes to the state pension and workplace pensions. Learn more