19th May 2026
This report explores how labour market histories and life events are associated with pension saving in the UK, and how different labour market patterns translate into differences in retirement outcomes in later life.
Under the current private pension system, certain groups are at risk of accumulating little or no private pensions over their working-age life, especially those with long spells of non-employment or self-employment, and to a lesser extent those mostly in part-time work.
Sustained periods of non-employment or part-time work are particularly common among women (especially those from ethnic minorities) and other groups that tend to be more disadvantaged on a number of dimensions, such as those who report being disabled in their later working life. These labour market patterns tend to lead to lower private pension saving over the life course among these groups.
While some of the differences in pension participation have narrowed since 2012 due to automatic enrolment, as long as significant differences in labour market patterns exist, automatic enrolment policies on their own cannot eliminate the differences in pension saving between groups.
Differences in pension saving patterns also translate into differences in retirement outcomes. People who are mostly in full-time paid work during their working lives have much higher retirement incomes than (for example) women who have taken significant breaks from paid work in order to raise children.
Average retirement incomes for groups that have lower labour market attachment and private pension saving are higher once partners’ incomes are included, making the gaps between groups smaller. However, marriages and partnerships can end due to divorce, separation or bereavement, which can expose people, in particular women, to lower resources in later life.
We find that ‘life events’ (such as having a child; relationship breakdown; or changing housing tenure) tend to have a limited effect on pension participation or changes in contribution rates for people who remain private sector employees. However, to the extent that life events affect labour market outcomes, they can still impact the amount people save in private pensions. Most notably, private pension saving of men and women diverge after the birth of a first child, almost entirely due to changing working patterns and earnings rather than due to pension contributions conditional on labour market behaviour.
Read the full report HERE