Building on progress to close the remaining gap

The retirement income gap has narrowed, but the report shows how caring responsibilities, menopause, relationship breakdown and lower financial resilience can interrupt women’s pension saving. Government, employers, providers and guidance services can help women protect and rebuild savings at these points. Men also have a role as allies, sharing caring responsibilities and supporting their partners’ financial independence.

Support is most useful at key life moments when people can make informed choices: before reducing hours, during a period of leave, when returning to work or before agreeing a financial settlement. Four priorities stand out.

Employers should work with providers to establish where differences in pension saving first emerge in their workforce, particularly among young women. Together they can examine how leave, reduced hours and return to work affect contributions, and whether their policies help employees maintain or rebuild saving.

1. Find where saving diverges. Use pension and workforce data to compare participation and contributions by gender, age, earnings and working pattern. Identify where differences first appear and establish a baseline for measuring progress.
2. Reach younger employees from the outset. At induction, explain employee and employer contributions, any matching available and how to review contribution choices. Make pension options clear to younger and lower-paid employees who are not automatically enrolled.
3. Review policy as well as communications. Review how parental and caring leave, menopause-related changes and return to work affect pension contributions. Check whether part-time employees can access the pension support offered to full-time ones, including any extra employer contributions.
4. Give support when decisions are made. Before leave or reduced hours begin, compare pay and pension contributions under current and proposed arrangements. Signpost the Career Break Modeller, prompt carers to check National Insurance credits, and offer practical menopause adjustments and a confidential route to discuss financial effects.
5. Give progress an owner. Name a senior sponsor and define responsibilities across HR, reward and pensions. Track whether participation and contribution gaps narrow, including after employees return from leave, and change policies where they persist.

Pensions should be considered alongside property, savings and income from the start of divorce discussions. Government should work with family law professionals, mediators, guidance services and providers to make pension information, accessible valuations and routes to specialist support a routine part of the process.

Support should be available before a financial settlement is agreed, including for people who might otherwise proceed without a formal settlement. The aim should be to ensure pensions are properly considered, with people understanding their options and the implications for their retirement income.

Employers should establish where differences in pension saving first emerge in their workforce, particularly among young women. They should then examine how leave, reduced hours and return to work affect contributions, and whether their policies help employees maintain or rebuild saving.”

Governments should strengthen practical financial education before young people enter work. This should cover workplace pensions, employer contributions and the value of starting to save early, alongside the skills needed to manage everyday finances and build resilience to unexpected costs.

Employers and providers should continue this support from the first payslip, helping people understand their pension and review their saving as circumstances change. Calculators, apps and AI tools can make information more accessible, alongside support for those who prefer to speak to someone. Scottish Widows can support these conversations through InvestAI, which answers common pension and investment questions, directing users to relevant support. Its planned expansion for workplace members could help more employees follow up when questions arise.

Financial advisers can build on this foundation, helping women understand their options, make informed decisions as their circumstances change and keep their longer-term retirement goals on track. For those facing more complex choices, personalised advice can help turn greater financial understanding into confident action. Visit our Closing the Advice Participation Gap report for more information on this.

Men can be active allies in supporting women’s retirement incomes. This means sharing caring responsibilities, discussing each partner’s retirement outlook and considering the effect on women’s pension saving before making shared decisions about work and care.

Where those decisions reduce women’s earnings or interrupt contributions, couples should discuss how their household finances could help protect pension saving in the woman’s own name, where affordable. Reviewing these arrangements when circumstances change, and seeking guidance together, can help make retirement planning a shared responsibility.

Providers and guidance services should offer optional tools that help couples understand each person’s expected retirement income and explore how decisions about work, care and saving affect them individually as well as together.

Joint planning should preserve financial independence. Each person should choose what information to share and retain control over their own pension and finances.