Personal PensionSep 17 2014

Men ahead of women in pension stakes: ONS

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Employees in the UK who are most likely to have a pension are men, university graduates and public sector workers, official statistics have revealed.

Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics have shown that people aged 25 and under, women and those in the private sector are much less likely to have made adequate provision for their retirement.

The ONS also showed that the type of work people do is important to their retirement savings, with the figures suggesting that the vast majority of care workers, call centre staff or those in manual labour are missing out.

Across all occupations and age ranges, men are more likely to have pensions than women, although there is very little gender difference for graduates.

The figures showed that nine out of 10 staff in public administration, defence or social security are in a pension scheme, while only 5 per cent of those in service industries such as food or accommodation are paying in.

The youngest workers are least likely to be covered by pension savings, with approximately 10 per cent of people aged 16 to 24 having made provision.

The figures relate to years 2011 to 2012, so do not reflect the spread of auto-enrolment.

Since October 2012, more than four million employees have been automatically enrolled into workplace pension schemes for the first time.

However, the lowest paid (those earning less than the income tax threshold of around £10,500 a year) and the self-employed are excluded, so they might continue to be left out of pension – coverage and have to rely on other resources provided by the state.

Adviser view

Anthony Carty, group financial planning director for Bristol-based Clifton Wealth, said: “The biggest single thing that can redress this balance is auto-enrolment, which is a gender-neutral piece of legislation.

“While statistically women may be earning less and contributing less, saving something is better than nothing. Relying on your spouse’s pension provision is an unsound strategy.

“However, I still feel for the financial advisory community, because it is largely dominated by males. It may be that a woman may prefer to deal with a female financial adviser.”