A GAY man has struck a blow for pensions equality that could open the floodgates on hundreds of millions of pounds of claims.

Former cavalry officer John Walker (pictured) won a legal fight in the Supreme Court to ensure his husband will get payments after his death.

It paves the way for other gay couples to get the same treatment — and could allow thousands of widowers to access retirement savings built up by their wives.

Ex pensions minister Baroness Altmann said: ‘In some schemes, a husband cannot inherit the wife’s pension but a wife will inherit that of her deceased husband. I expect this issue will now be looked at again — and the cost to public sector schemes could be hundreds of millions of pounds.’

Gay people were previously only legally entitled to their partners’ pension savings paid in after civil unions were introduced in 2005.

But Mr Walker, 66, who worked for chemicals group Innospec for more than 20 years, successfully argued for his husband to have the right to get the full spouse’s pension under the company’s scheme.

Provided they are still married when Mr Walker dies, the husband, who is in his 50s, will receive £45,000 a year instead of only £1,000. Rights group Liberty said thousands of gay couples could benefit.

Mr Walker said the outcome of his lengthy legal battle was a ‘victory for basic fairness and decency’.

He added: ‘It is to our government’s great shame that it has taken so many years, huge amounts of taxpayers’ money and the UK’s highest court to drag them into the 21st century.’

Hugh Nolan, president of the Society of Pension Professionals, also described the court’s decision as a ‘victory for fairness’.

He told Metro: ‘The amount Baroness Altmann has quoted when looked at as a whole is not actually that much money. What is important is being fair. A lot of schemes have already made retrospective changes to give equality.’

A spokesman for the government said it would review the implications of the ruling.