Report: Understanding the Gender Pensions Gap
Key findings
- Women taking time away from work, generally to look after family, is the biggest factor in the women’s pension gap.
- Women on average currently earn 18% less compared with their male counterparts. Over the course of a working life, the pay differential could contribute to a reduction of pension wealth of 28% of those approaching retirement.
- A higher proportion of women are in current workplace defined benefit schemes. This is due to a larger proportion of females working in the public sector.
The report also sets out policy recommendations to reduce the gender pensions gap. Suggestions include a policy targeted at people not in paid work such as a family carer top-up so that those taking time out of work don’t miss out on contributions and saving into a pension from the first pound rather than using banded earnings.