Women in some areas of the country are retiring with a pension pot that is almost half (49.6%) the size of men’s pension savings, research from Profile Pensions has revealed, with “significant differences” across the UK.

The report found that when looking at the country as a whole, the average pension pot for a man was £40,084, whilst women’s savings were 39% worse, at £24,445.

However, Northern Scotland in particular was highlighted as having the widest gender pensions gap, with men’s pension savings around 49.6% larger than those belonging to women, at £41,603 compared to women’s £20,978.

East Anglia also had a “very wide” gender pensions gap, with women reporting a pension value of around 48.5% less than men’s at £23,391 (£45,429 for men).

Greater London, in contrast, had the lowest pension gender gap, with women retiring with 29.9% less savings than their male peers, and also boasted the largest average female pension pot, which was 30% higher than the female national average.

The West Midlands also had a smaller than average gap, although it still totalled a difference of £11,581 (30%) on average.

Commenting on the findings, Profile Pensions chief investment officer, Michelle Gribbin, said: “What we see with these findings, sadly, is that the gender pay gap and the gender pension gap go hand in hand.

“Men, on average, earn more than women, and therefore can save and receive larger contributions from employers into their pension pot. It’s clear there’s much more to be done to help women gain the security they need going into retirement.

“Under current UK law, employers contribute 3% to the employee’s pension pot, 4% comes direct from their payroll and the remaining 1% is made up by tax relief. Employees are able to decrease or increase this anytime that they see fit.”

(This article first appeared on our sister title www.pensionsage.com.)

Share Story: