Skip to main content
The Actuary: The magazine of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries - return to the homepage Logo of The Actuary website
  • Search
  • Visit The Actuary Magazine on Facebook
  • Visit The Actuary Magazine on LinkedIn
  • Visit @TheActuaryMag on Twitter
Visit the website of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries Logo of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries

Main navigation

  • News
  • Features
    • General Features
    • Interviews
    • Students
    • Opinion
  • Topics
  • Knowledge
    • Business Skills
    • Careers
    • Events
    • Predictions by The Actuary
    • Whitepapers
    • Moody's - Climate Risk Insurers series
    • Webinars
    • Podcasts
  • Jobs
  • IFoA
    • CEO Comment
    • IFoA News
    • People & Social News
    • President Comment
  • Archive
Quick links:
  • Home
  • The Actuary Issues
  • October 2013
10

Women's pension planning reaches record low, Scottish Widows warns

Open-access content Thursday 24th October 2013 — updated 5.13pm, Wednesday 29th April 2020

Women’s preparation for retirement has reached an ‘all-time low’ and is lagging behind their male counterparts, Scottish Widows has warned

In its report UK women and pensions, published yesterday, the firm said that, of the 5,000 respondents to its poll, just 40% of women, compared to 49% men, were preparing adequately for later life. This represents a drop from 42% last year and 50% from 2011, creating a gender pension savings gap of nearly £1,000 a year. 

Lynn Graves, Scottish Widows head of development, corporate pensions, said: 'Of particular concern is the number of women in their 40s who are planning to rely on their partner to help support them in retirement, but are unsure of what their pension provision would be were they to separate.  

'It is worrying to see that women are continuing to lag behind men in retirement savings. The number of women preparing adequately for retirement has dropped from last year to a record low. This growing gender gap in retirement savings means that women are facing an ever increasing shortfall when it comes to retiring and must act now to ensure they will not be left exposed later in life.'

Scottish Widows' survey also found that women were coming up against barriers to saving at every single stage of life, with different lifestyle factors taking their toll on women of different ages.

Over half of 22 to 29-year-olds said they do not have a pension, compared to 37% of the general female population. Women surveyed in their 20s were found to be tied down by short-term financial pressures and were prioritising living expenses, paying off debts, travel and holidays or saving for a property over saving for retirement. 

For women in their 30s, Scottish Widows' found that only 50% work full-time compared with 81% of men of the same age. According to Scottish Windows career breaks and reduced hours have a knock-on effect on women's ability to save.

But by the time women reach their 40s, their financial priorities have changed, again, with almost a quarter of 40 to 49-year-olds saying they had prioritised financial support for their children over retirement saving in the last five years. 

And a similar proportion of women in their 50s would rather pay off debts than to save for their retirement, the report found.

Commenting on the survey's findings a Department of Work and Pensions spokeswoman said: 'Our reforms… will introduce a single, simple, decent state pension, which will provide a solid foundation for further saving through automatic enrolment into workplace pensions with employer contributions and tax relief.' 

Tom McPhail, head of pensions research at Hargreaves Lansdown, said that the government should look into raising the Universal Pension Allowance which 'has been stuck at £3,600 since 2001'.

'Where a husband is working and their wife is working part-time or taking a career break, they can still make pension contributions on behalf of their partner, using the Universal Pension Allowance.'

This article appeared in our October 2013 issue of The Actuary.
Click here to view this issue
Filed in
10
Topics
Pensions

You might also like...

Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Linked in
  • Mail
  • Print

Latest Jobs

Life Actuarial Trainee

England
Up to £55000.00 per annum
Reference
145815

Catastrophe Manager - Top Performing Syndicate

England, London
£70000 - £94000 per annum
Reference
145814

Senior Pricing Analyst

London, England
£40000 - £80000 per annum
Reference
145813
See all jobs »
 
 

Today's top reads

 
 

Sign up to our newsletter

News, jobs and updates

Sign up

Subscribe to The Actuary

Receive the print edition straight to your door

Subscribe
Spread-iPad-slantB-june.png

Topics

  • Data Science
  • Investment
  • Risk & ERM
  • Pensions
  • Environment
  • Soft skills
  • General Insurance
  • Regulation Standards
  • Health care
  • Technology
  • Reinsurance
  • Global
  • Life insurance
​
FOLLOW US
The Actuary on LinkedIn
@TheActuaryMag on Twitter
Facebook: The Actuary Magazine
CONTACT US
The Actuary
Tel: (+44) 020 7880 6200
​

IFoA

About IFoA
Become an actuary
IFoA Events
About membership

Information

Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
Cookie Policy
Think Green

Get in touch

Contact us
Advertise with us
Subscribe to The Actuary Magazine
Contribute

The Actuary Jobs

Actuarial job search
Pensions jobs
General insurance jobs
Solvency II jobs

© 2023 The Actuary. The Actuary is published on behalf of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries by Redactive Publishing Limited. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any part is not allowed without written permission.

Redactive Media Group Ltd, 71-75 Shelton Street, London WC2H 9JQ