Pension gender gap remains wide as women face lower incomes

The typical woman who is retiring this year will receive just £12,900 through both the state and private pensions, £6,500 less than the £19,400 that men are on track to receive, according to insurer Prudential.

The study of more than 1,000 people also found that 28 per cent of women planning to retire this year will not receive any money from a personal or company pension, compared with just 10 per cent of men.

The only good news for women is that the gender pensions gap has shrunk slightly compared with last year, when women retired on £12,200 and men received £19,600 – a £7,400 difference.

Women tend to have lower pensions than men because they are often paid less while they are working, and they are more likely to take career breaks to look after children or elderly relatives.

Vince Smith-Hughes, head of business development at Prudential, said: “It is good news that average retirement incomes for women have risen, but unfortunately the gender gap remains stubbornly wide.”

Joanne Segars, chief executive of the National Association of Pension Funds, said: “Sadly, many women lost out on the chance to build their pension when they left work to start a family, and too many are reliant on their husband’s pension. It’s important that everyone has a pension in their own right.

“The gender gap may have narrowed slightly, but our society as a whole remains on a collision course with its retirement.

“Government plans for a simpler, more generous state pension should help, as will the introduction from 2012 of automatic enrolment into a workplace pen sion.”