Pensions - Articles - Fixing the gender pay gap will fix the gender pension gap

 “Gender pay equality continues to be a big talking point, but we can’t ignore the growing pension inequality which also exists today. Pension contributions are often calculated as a percentage of earnings, such as auto-enrolment contributions. So if women’s salary, is lower, pension contributions will also be lower leading ultimately to lower retirement incomes. Tackling the gender pay gap will kill two birds with one stone and fix the gender pension gap.

 “The gender pension gap widens with age, compounded by women’s disrupted working patterns. And it’s not helped by auto-enrolment which disproportionately excludes more women than men from workplace pensions due to low earnings.

 “Most employees have access to a workplace pension and an employer contribution, provided they meet the age and salary criteria. To be auto-enrolled into a workplace pension employees need to be aged between 22 and State Pension Age and earn £10,000 a year from a single job.

 “We know that more women than men don’t meet the eligibility criteria with almost a third* effectively being excluded from workplace pensions as they earn less than £10,000 a year.

 “Auto-enrolment doesn’t allow for people with multiple jobs to combine their earnings and with women being more likely than men to have multiple jobs, this creates a problem for the future. This discrepancy will continue to fuel pension inequality, unless changed.”

 100% of UK employers have published their gender pay gap data

 *workplace-pensions-update-analysis-auto-enrolment