The amount of time women spend out of paid work because of caring responsibilities is one of the most significant contributing factors to the gender pensions gap, according to analysis by the TUC.
Today is the trade union body’s “Gender Pensions Gap Day” – when the average retired woman effectively stops receiving their pension while men continue to benefit. The TUC said that women effectively go 4.5 months per year without a pension.
Gender pensions gap
Single mothers and divorced women face heightened gender pensions gap
At every age – from the very start right through to the end of their careers – women are more likely than men to be out of work because of caring commitments.
The Prospect union has calculated that the income gap between men and women in retirement is now 37.9%, nearly three times the gender pay gap (14.3%).
TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: “Women leaving paid work and taking on caring responsibilities is a key driver of the gender pensions gap – and the gender pay gap more generally.
“Women kept out of work for caring responsibilities should build up extra state pension to recognise the value of that work. Many women in work don’t get any sort of workplace pension at all because they don’t earn enough – often because of working part-time around caring commitments.”
Analysis published by the TUC shows that nearly 1.5 million women who are not in paid work are undertaking unpaid caring responsibilities:
Caring responsibilities by age
Women are nearly five times more likely than men to be out of work because of caring responsibilities, while black and ethnic minority (BME) women are 6.5 times more likely.
The research shows that women aged 25 to 34 are most likely to be undertaking unpaid care while not in paid work compared to men of the same age:
One in 11 (8.7%) women aged 25-29 and 7.9% of women aged 30-34 have caring responsibilities while not in paid work, compared to less than one in 100 men in both respective age bands.
Nowak added: “The new government’s plans to introduce day one rights to flexible working and parental rights will go some way to helping families share caring responsibilities.
“Women are often the ones expected to plug the gaps when our social care and childcare systems are not sufficient.
“Commitments to introducing a fair pay agreement in social care and reforming the childcare and early years sector will also help to tackle drivers of the pensions gap.”
The TUC is calling on ministers to take urgent action by implementing measures in the Pensions (Extension of Auto-enrolment) Act 2023 to lower the age threshold at which employers must include workers in a pension scheme and to remove the £10,000 earnings threshold that excludes low-paid workers from auto-enrolment.
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