How to promote gender equity in pay and pensions

Kathryn Fleming, partner and head of At-Retirement Services at Hymans Robertson explains why gender gaps develop, and how to avoid them.

The latest statistics from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) indicate that the gender pensions gap in the UK stands at 35%, with a corresponding savings gap of 17%.

In 2024, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported a gender pay gap of 7%.

Since most businesses are at their peak planning phase in the first quarter, this is the ideal time to think about what can be done to address gender pay and pension gaps.

There are several drivers behind pension gaps, mainly differences in working patterns, salaries, attitudes to risk and relationships with money.

As a part-time working parent in the pensions industry, I am very aware of the challenges.

As a pension consultant, I am also aware that solutions must fit different budgets, cultures, and time pressures.

Focused solutions

Most solutions need to be focused on keeping females in the workplace, keeping employees saving for retirement and improving financial awareness.

There are many actions that can shift the dial positively.

Here are some ways to leverage reward and benefits policies to prevent gender pay and pension gaps from developing.

What can you do if you are short of budget?

When recruiting, don’t base employee pay on salary history, advertise what you are prepared to pay for the role. This will stop compounding existing pay gaps and increase pay transparency.

Share case studies of senior role models making use of your benefits, for example, using flexible working to attend a child’s school show.

Run female-focused financial wellbeing workshops which include a section on the impact of carers’ leave and part-time work on pension and how your policies support women in the workplace.

Speak to your pension provider and ask them to give you all the data they have on your participating employees, split by gender.

They should have pension contributions and pension pot sizes as a minimum and this will help you be more informed.

What can do if you are short of time?

Ask your pension provider to advertise then run a webinar on the gender pay and pensions gap.

They have resources and ready-made communications you can use.

Ask for help from your employee network groups or set up an employee focus group.

They are safe spaces where good conversations and good ideas are often generated.

They can quickly identify any material actions or quick wins for you to consider and reinforce what’s already in place.

Arrange financial coaching for your employees as part of your employee assistance programme.

This can be a good “catch-all” conversation raising awareness of your benefits as well as extra sources of information, like your pension provider and MoneyHelper.

Top 3 most impactful actions

Calculate and analyse your gender pensions gap at the same time as your gender pay gap, then communicate an action plan with your employees.
Expand paid family leave across all your policies, increasing take-home pay, which will also filter through to increasing pension savings for those in your pension scheme.
Review your benefits policies and life event communications and see if they reference pensions. For example, a change in hours means a change in salary which will flow through to pensions. Raise awareness of this and if you can, point your employees to your pension providers' modelling tools so employees can see the impact.

There are many actions you can consider to raise awareness of the reward and benefit policies you already have.

Often all that is needed is a way to communicate them that is framed by highlighting the problem that they are designed to solve.

If you are interested in learning more, download this checklist of actions.

If you are interested in learning more, please do get in touch.