Part-time female workers are missing out on their pensions, claims a new report published by the Trade Union Congress (TUC).
The report, entitled Unfinished Business: Building a fresh consensus on workplace pensions, found that as many as three million women working part time are being excluded from workplace pensions.
Automatic enrolment for a workplace pension starts at a salary of £10,000, but according to official figures over four million UK workers are earning less than this; with 3.4 million being women.
The study also found that 57 per cent of part-time workers were earning less than £10,000 a year and by being excluded from the automatic enrolment, were missing out on the employer contributions received by other employees.
Part-time workers who have more than one job and whose wage is over £10,000, are also missing out, says TUC.
Frances O’Grady, TUC General Secretary, said, “Automatic enrolment has been a great success, giving six million more people access to a workplace pension.”
“But millions of women workers are still missing out. We need to remove the barrier of the earnings trigger so that the millions of workers in part-time work, including those holding down multiple jobs, are automatically enrolled onto workplace pensions too.”
“Too many people are only receiving the legal minimum pension contributions. We need a clear plan to increase the money going into pensions to give workers a good chance of a decent retirement.”
The TUC is now calling for the government to review their automatic enrolment plan, to bring in low income workers, and to allow employees the opportunity of a good income throughout their retirement.
The news comes as thousands of women marched on Westminster, protesting against the recent pension reforms. The changes now mean that women have to wait longer to be able to claim their state pension. For those born on or after 5 April 1951, the claimant age has increased from 60 to 66.