RETIREMENT GENDER GAP HITS £6400

Women £1100 worse off within a year

THE retirement income gender gap has grown by £1100 over the last year, a survey has found.

On average, a woman retiring in 2017 will be £6400 a year worse off than a man retiring this year, according to research from Prudential.

When a similar study was carried out a year ago, it found a woman retiring in 2016 would have typically expected to be £5300 worse off annually than a man preparing to stop working.

Women planning to retire this year expect to have a typical annual retirement income of £14,300.

This is £200 less than the £14,500-a-year income women retiring in 2016 were expecting to live on.

By contrast, men’s expected retirement incomes have been growing for five years in a row. A man retiring this year can typically expect to have £20,700 annually to live on, while men retiring last year had an average income of £19,800.

The retirement income gender gap is at its widest since 2014.

Women who retired during that year typically expected to be £6700 worse off than men.

Kirsty Anderson, a retirement income expert at Prudential, said: “The gender gap in retirement incomes continues to grow, probably reflecting the fact that many women will enter retirement having taken career breaks and changed their working patterns to look after dependants.

“Unfortunately, as a result, many women will end up with smaller personal pension pots and some are also likely to receive a reduced state pension.

“For anyone who takes a career break, maintaining pension contributions and, where possible, making voluntary national insurance contributions after returning to work, should help to minimise the impact on their retirement income.

“However, with a greater number of women staying in the workforce for longer these days – and employers increasingly offering more flexible working patterns – the outlook is more positive for women’s retirement incomes in the future.”

Some 1000 people planning to retire this year took part in the survey.