The Gender Pay Gap Hits Women On Pensions In Addition To Lower Pay Levels

29th May 2023

Given a gender pay gap exists in the UK it won't come as a surprise that a gap also exists on pension savings as most of the population contribute to their pension by means of a percentage of salary throughout their career.

But aside from pay, there are additional drivers of a gender pension gap in the UK, including
women undertaking a disproportionate share of caring responsibilities, taking career breaks to do so and more women than men working part time.

We are also increasingly seeing women citing taking leave later in their career due to the impacts of the menopause.

There is currently no official national measure of the gender pension gap, but several reputable organisations have attempted to estimate the gap, with this typically being calculated at around 40% at retirement.

The new work and pensions minister has announced proposals to consider an official measure of the gender pension gap, as well as regular reporting and this will help to raise awareness.

In the meantime we really encourage employers to continue to engage with their employees on this issue, for example highlighting pensions in their maternity and paternity policies.

Note
See further issues affecting women in employment at -
https://www.pwc.co.uk/services/human-resource-services/gender-pay/video-transcript-year-six-clare-keeffe.html#transcript.html