“Auto enrolment isn’t doing enough to tackle the inequality in pension saving as this report reinforces.
“With men on average earning 80% more than women over their lifetime, this will result men having much healthier pension pots than women.
“When we look at our own member base, this divide is already visible. Over half (57%) of our member base is male and their average fund size is £431 while women have £340. This gap persists but grows wider for women over the age of 30.
“The reason we have more men than women saving with us is because over three quarters (77%) of employees earning less than the auto enrolment trigger are women according to a report NOW: Pensions commissioned from the Pensions Policy Institute. In addition, over 50% of part-time workers will not reach the annual £10,000 earnings threshold required to be auto enrolled into a workplace pension and 81% of part-time workers are women.
“All workers should have an equal opportunity to build an adequate pension pot and where there is inherent inequality, steps need to be taken to address this.
“Removing the auto enrolment trigger would bring 3 million more people into pension saving, the majority of whom are women. Basing auto enrolment contributions on every pound of earnings, as recommended by the 2017 auto enrolment review, would benefit all savers but particularly low earners who are more likely to be women.”
More information
| Samantha Gould – NOW: Pensions Email: pressoffice@nowpensions.com | Instinctif Partners Email: nowpensions@instinctif.com | Fenella Cuthbert – Cicero/AMO Tel: 0207 947 5327 Fenella.Cuthbert@cicero-group.com |