'Gender pensions gap' puts women in retirement poverty

A large number of women could face poverty in retirement because of a "gender pensions gap", according to research from the Association of British Insurers (ABI).

Its study found that up to 4.5 million working women have not saved enough for retirement; and another 4.5 million women have not saved at all.

The report stated that 35% of women do not belong to a pension scheme compared to 25% of men and, even when they do save, more than half of women contribute less than £100 per month to their pension.

Women were also less likely to benefit from employer contributions the ABI said, with only 9% of women receiving an employer contribution of more than 5% of wages, compared to 15% of men. And 83% of retired women have a total personal income of less then £1,000 per month compared with just 58% of men.

Women struggle to save because they tend to work in low paid jobs and their work is more likely to be disrupted by childcare. They are also more likely to face poverty in old age because they tend to retire earlier and live longer than men, the organisation said.

The health union Unison said that one option would be to force employers to contribute at least 10% of pay to a pension fund.

"Many women are employed in low-paid jobs and, as a result, are not offered good final salary schemes," senior pensions officer Glyn Jenkins said.

"They have no choice but to join stakeholder and money purchase schemes which have totally inadequate employer contributions."

(gmcg)