British men bring in as much as £29,000 more than their female counterparts in state pension, according to a recent study.
Women’s state pensions notably shrink due to the breaks they take in their careers, says Which?
Women’s Smaller Retirement Savings
Throughout a typical 20 year retirement period, men will receive nearly £29,000 more than women, says the most recent Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) data. That information also indicates that the average male weekly pension is £153.86, whereas his average female counterpart takes in only £125.98.
These figures are based on the three months ending in August last year. They revealed that women usually receive about 81.9 percent of what men are taking in from their state pensions. That said, as imbalanced as that figure appears, it is actually an improvement over what women were receiving compared to men in the same three months of 2015. At that time, women had only 79.9 percent the weekly state pensions of men. Moreover, in 2013, that figure was only 77.7 percent.
A Long Way to Go
Currently, there are close to 13 million people who receive a state pension. Among them, 8.4 million receive a basic and additional pension. These amounts are based exclusively on their personal contributions to national insurance (N.I.). Within that group, 59 percent are men. According to Which? data, this can often be explained as “women in this group will have a lower pension because they may have taken a break from their career to have children.”
Furthermore, there are some women who have inherited a basic and additional pension from a spouse who has died. This also includes people whose NI contributions do not entitle them to a pension. In that group, 99.7 percent are women. There is another category who are able to use the NI contributions of a deceased spouse in order to increase their own pensions. In that category, 84 percent are women.
No Entitlement
Lastly, there are two groups in which the individual doesn’t have any entitlement, or they have topped up their own pensions. This time, in both cases, the N.I. contributions of a living spouse were applied. Which? data showed that in these categories, too, members were “almost exclusively women.”