Women planning to retire this year will be over £5,000 worse off than men retiring at the same time, according to new research.
According to the report, conducted by insurance company, Prudential, the average annual income for women retiring this year is £14,450, compared to men’s annual income of £19,850. This is despite female incomes reaching record highs.
The study also revealed that women’s confidence in their retirement income has fallen. Data found that only 40 per cent of women this year had faith that their retirement would provide enough income for a comfortable life. This figure is down by 4 per cent on last year’s figures.
Despite the downturn, the research also found that women retiring this year could expect the highest level of income since Prudential began analysing the data in 2007.
The research comes as pensions have been hitting the headlines in recent weeks. A report published by the Trade Union Congress (TUC) claimed that female part-time workers were missing out on their pensions, while thousands of women recently marched in protest of pension reforms.
Kirsty Anderson, a retirement income expert at Prudential said, “It is possible that many women retirees were expecting to receive the new ‘flat rate’ state pension in full, but having received their illustrations have had to revise their retirement expectations downwards.”
“It is an unfortunate fact of life that many women will reach retirement having taken breaks during their working lives that will impact the level of state pension they will receive and the size of their pension pot.”
“However, there are a number of steps that anyone in this situation can take prior to giving up work to help improve their retirement prospects. Theses include continuing to make contributions to a pension during career breaks and making voluntary National Insurance contributions after returning to work.”
