37% of women DON’T have a workplace pension

Women are lagging behind their male counterparts when it comes workplace pension savings.

This is according to new research from Barnett Waddingham, which found that 37% of women don’t have a workplace pension compared to 32% of men.

On a similar note, women are also significantly less likely to have made changes to their workplace pension investment strategy, with 85% of women agreeing that they haven’t compared to 75% of men.

This suggests that more women are at risk of being financially underprepared for retirement and having to rely on a state pension alone.

Amanda Latham, policy and strategy lead at Barnett Waddingham, noted that relying on a state pension would not cover the costs for a comfortable retirement.

In order to encourage more women to save for their future, Latham believes that more financial education is needed.

“There needs to be a much greater level of financial education to help more women make informed choices about their pension, but the onus shouldn’t fall on individuals alone,” she explained.

“In a system designed around inertia, we need to see policymakers and employers offering better default strategies rather than relying on pension holders to come up with them themselves.

“The existing framework is letting too many women down, when it is in the interests of wider society for people to be well prepared for retirement.”

The data from Barnett Waddingham reinforces similar research carried out earlier this year, which found that the pensions gap widens substantially later in life as almost two fifths of women aged over 55 will rely on a state pension only, compared to 17% of men over 55.

Read the latest issue of Reward Strategy magazine here to find out how employers can keep up with their pension duties.