Why Women can be disadvantaged when it comes to Pensions

On average, Women retire with less than half the pension income of Men. There are various reasons why, such as
1. Gender pay gap: Women tend to earn less than men over the course of their careers, which means they have less money to contribute to their retirement accounts. This can result in lower pensions.
2. Career breaks: Women are more likely to take time off from work to care for children or elderly relatives, which can result in gaps in their employment history and missing valuable National insurance contributions.
3. Part-time work: Women are also more likely to work part-time, which can result in lower salaries and reduced contributions over the years to their Pension accounts.
4. Longer life expectancy: Women tend to live longer than men, which means they are likely to need more money to support themselves in later life.
5. Inequalities in the pension system: Women may be disadvantaged, such as lower pension contributions for part-time workers or a lack of recognition for unpaid caregiving work.
There are of course ways that women can boost their Pensions to ensure that they do not fall so behind, such as:
Planning for career breaks and making additional contributions when you can. Even when you are not working you can contribute £2,880 each year into a Pension, and the government will add £720 through tax relief making a total of £3,600 added to your pension.
Even if you are not working your spouse, or civil partner can make contributions on your behalf.
If you are going on Maternity leave, try and keep paying into your Pension – if you stop, your Employer can stop contributions too, so try and continue where you can.
Checking what they are entitled to from the State Pension sooner rather than later Check your State Pension forecast Check your state pension if you are short of years (you need 35 full National insurance contributions to receive full state pension) you can make additional contributions to make sure you don’t lose out.

This blog is not intended to replace independent financial advice, if in doubt, please contact us.