{"id":676507,"date":"2026-05-18T00:58:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T00:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/676507\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T00:58:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T00:58:08","slug":"government-backed-pensions-commission-calls-for-action-on-gender-savings-gap-pensions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/676507\/","title":{"rendered":"Government-backed Pensions Commission calls for action on gender savings gap | Pensions"},"content":{"rendered":"

A shake-up of pensions in Britain must involve measures to close the gap in retirement savings between men and women, the revived Pensions<\/a> Commission is to tell ministers.<\/p>\n

According to the government-backed body, women approaching retirement have on average half the private pension savings of men, with a median pension wealth of \u00a381,000 versus \u00a3156,000.<\/p>\n

The commission, which is expected to publish its interim report on the long-term future of the retirement system this week, said it would look at how the government could cut the gender pension gap as part of its work towards a final report with recommendations, expected next year.<\/p>\n

It said closing the gender gap in private retirement wealth was \u201cnot only a matter of fairness\u201d but also that failing to do so risked fuelling a rise in pensioner poverty and damaging government finances.<\/p>\n

First established under Tony Blair\u2019s government in 2002, the Pensions Commission was revived by Keir Starmer last year<\/a>, amid fears that a crisis in saving for retirement could mean today\u2019s workers will be poorer in later life than the current crop of pensioners.<\/p>\n

The commission said closing the pensions gender gap was \u2018a matter of fairness\u2019. Photograph: Acorn 1\/Alamy Stock Photo<\/p>\n

The relaunched commission is led by Jeannie Drake, who was a member of the original Blair-era panel, working alongside Ian Cheshire, the former chair of Barclays UK, and Nick Pearce, a professor of public policy at the University of Bath.<\/p>\n

Its interim report will draw on data commissioned by the Institute for Fiscal Studies<\/a> that says women suffer a \u201cmotherhood penalty\u201d, as their pension contributions typically flatline after childbirth.<\/p>\n

The IFS found that women contributed about \u00a330 a week on average to a pension before having their first child \u2013 a level that remained unchanged six years later.<\/p>\n

For men, however, savings rates grew from about \u00a330 a week to more than \u00a360 a week on average over the same time period.<\/p>\n

Women are also more likely to work part-time or leave work entirely because of caring responsibilities, excluding them from automatic enrolment in workplace pension schemes.<\/p>\n

The commission said the UK has the second-worst gender pensions gap among rich countries in the 38-member Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, behind only Japan, despite near-equal state pension outcomes for men and women reaching retirement age in 2026.<\/p>\n

It said solutions would require a \u201cjoined-up approach\u201d, involving reforms to pensions policy and the labour market, including access to childcare.<\/p>\n

Lady Drake said: \u201cThe evidence is clear. Women are approaching retirement with half the pension wealth of men, and without further action, this difference will persist.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe gender pensions gap is not simply a reflection of the pay gap, it is shaped by a system that has not yet fully accounted for the realities of many women\u2019s working lives, including career breaks for caring, part-time work, and the motherhood penalty we have identified.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs this commission moves towards recommending solutions, it will be looking at pension policy measures which can help to reduce the gap \u2013 something I believe employers, pension providers and policymakers will need to work on together.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A shake-up of pensions in Britain must involve measures to close the gap in retirement savings between men…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":676508,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[45,49,48,133,131,132],"class_list":["post-676507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-finance","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=676507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676507\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/676508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=676507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=676507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=676507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}