The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has warned that the gender pension gap effectively leaves women without pension payments for four months of each year. Analysis from Prospect, highlighted by the TUC, revealed a 32.8% gap in retirement payments between men and women, prompting calls for the Government to introduce a "bold plan" for change.
This gap is equivalent to around £7,200 a year, according to the TUC. If women received their annual pension income at the same rate as men, they would stop receiving payments for the final four months of the year. The union body also warned that the average woman approaching retirement has built up around half as much in her pension pot as men.
Union calls for reform
Sue Ferns OBE, senior deputy general secretary of Prospect, welcomed the overall decline in the gender pensions gap but cautioned that Britain was "a very long way from achieving parity". The TUC has called on the Pensions Commission to deliver a "bold plan" to tackle the gender divide.
According to the TUC, the Pensions Commission's interim findings showed that women, disabled people, and black and ethnic minority people faced a greater risk of poor retirement outcomes.
Retirement security at risk
TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: "Everyone deserves dignity and security in retirement. But right now, too many retired women have been left without enough to get by, often because they spent their working lives raising children and caring for loved ones."
Nowak added: "The workplace pension system needs reform so it works better for people on low pay and part-time workers. And women with caring responsibilities should build up extra State Pension to recognise the value of that work."
The Pensions Commission's interim report exposed how and why so many women are at risk of poverty in retirement. The commission must now come up with a bold plan to close the gender pensions gap for good, the TUC said.
