A
large number of women are at serious risk of facing poverty in retirement,
according to a new report by the ABI (Association of British Insurers).
The
report, The Gender Pensions Gap –
encouraging women to save for retirement, shows that up to 4.5 million working
women are not saving enough for retirement and another 4.5 million women are
not saving at all.
Head
of pensions and savings at the ABI, Joanne Segars, said: “We all know about the gender pay gap.
Today we are highlighting the gender pensions
gap. It is just as wide and just as important.
“The
pressures on women today are immense. We are less likely to be in employment,
we tend to have lower wages and we are more likely to spend our disposable
income on our children. But increased pension saving is vital if women are to
have a decent income in retirement,” she said.
Other
findings:
–
35 per cent of women do not belong to a pension scheme compared to 25 per cent
of men
–
even when they do save, more
than half of women contribute less than £100 per month to their pension
–
women are less likely to benefit from employer
contributions – only 9 per cent receive an employer contribution of more than 5
per cent of wages, compared to 15 per cent of men
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–
83 per cent of retired women have a total personal income of less then £1,000
per month compared with just 58 per cent of men.
