Campaigning for the underpensioned

We examine the pension savings gaps for the most financially at-risk groups in our society – from carers and single parents to part-time workers and disabled people.

The underpensioned report 2022

Since our last published report two years ago, the pension wealth gap has worsened. Underpensioned groups are retiring with 85% less than the UK average.

We are proposing two key policy changes that will help these groups increase pension wealth by an average of 30-52%.

Download report
Illustration showing people from different underpensioned groups

The underpensioned report 2020

Underpensioned groups are reaching retirement age with a pension wealth approximately 15% of the UK average.

Our policy proposals would help get a further 2.5 million involved with pension saving, generating an additional £1.2 billion in annual pension contributions.

Download report

Our fight to make pensions fairer for all

We’ve presented five policy proposals to the government to make pensions fairer for all.

1
analytics-pie-2

Remove the £10,000 earnings ‘trigger’ for auto enrolment

Where every £1 of income is eligible for pension contributions.
2
currency-pound-bill

Remove the lower earnings limit

So all earnings count towards pension contributions.
3
strategy-chess

Introduce a ‘family carer’s top-up’

To the pensions of people taking time out of paid work to care for family members.
4
business-message-bottle

Include pensions in divorce settlements

Pension assets should be treated like all other assets in financial settlements.
5
office-lamp

Make more lower-cost childcare available

A parent shouldn't have to choose between a job or childcare.

Explore the latest underpensioned index with our panel of experts.

Register for our webinar
Since it was introduce exactly ten years ago, auto enrolment has transformed how millions of people in the UK save for their pension. Yet for far too many in our society, a comfortable retirement remains out of reach, usually through no fault of their own. At NOW: Pensions, our mission is to fight for a fair pension system that enables everyone to get the retirement they deserve.
Joanne Seagers
Chair of Trustees,
NOW: Pensions
Automatic enrolment has brought many more in underpensioned groups into pension saving, but they remain disproportionately ineligible. The current economic climate could exacerbate the underpensioned gap, making it more challenging to implement further policies to narrow the gap in the short term, but it is important that the underpensioned challenge is approached with a long term view.
Lauren Wilkinson
Senior Policy Researcher
Pension Policy Institute
The underpensioned challenge is long term by nature, and we need to find practical solutions which will help those who need it most. In the face of economic uncertainty and a global cost of living crisis, it would be easy to say that we have other prioritise but we are urging the government and policymakers to close these savings gaps and create a fairer pension system.
Samantha Gould
Head of PR and Campaigns
NOW: Pensions

You might like

Daughter colours in next to her mother

Fair Pensions For All

By highlighting inequalities and campaigning for change, we’re helping people who save get the retirement and financial outcomes they deserve.
Illustration of parents holding a child, a woman holding hands with her child and two women walking

Gender pensions gap

Women’s retirement wealth averages only one-third of men’s in the UK. We’re working hard to change that.

Five easy ways to pay your pension some attention

We’re here to help savers know what pension money they’ve got, where their pensions are and how they can keep track of them easily.
Three people in windows

Pandemic and pensions

We explore how the pensions savings gaps for underpensioned groups have worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic.