Pensions gender gap has “no easy fix”, pensions minister Laura Trott said at an industry gathering.
Ms Trott was answering questions at an event attended by pensions industry representatives and hosted by former Pensions Minister Sir Steve Webbwho is now a partner in the advisory firm LCP (Lane Clark & Peacock).
Ms Trott was speaking after the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) released figures on Monday, showing the extent of the pension gender gap in private pensions across Britain.
Between 2018 and 2020, the average woman aged 55 to 59 had personal pension assets of £94,000 on average, compared to £145,000 for the equivalent man, according to the data.
Ms Trott told the LCP rally London Office: “I usually think that inside Govt If you measure something, if you track something, it really focuses the mind to do something about it.
“And I think there’s a great story to tell in terms of what we’ve done for women with private pensions.”
He highlighted the impact of auto-enrolment in bringing people into workplace pension savings.
Ms Trott said of the gender pension gap: “It’s something I’ve always been committed to… and I think what the government has done recently in child care support will help address that because the pension gap is basically a work-at-time pay gap.
“It’s a multifaceted problem, there’s no easy solution, but when you measure something I think you tend to focus more on it.”
Figures from the DWP also indicate that among employees eligible for automatic enrollment in 2021, the average male employee saved £2,430 in workplace pensions while the average female saved slightly more at £2,700.
Within the public sector, male employees saved an average of £8,480 compared to an average of £6,320 for female employees.
In the private sector, average contributions per employee were lower, but male employees still contributed more on average than eligible female employees (£2,010 compared to £1,500), the DWP said.
According to the DWP document, a higher representation of female employees in high-saving public sector employee roles explains why the overall average qualified female employee has more pension savings than the average male employee.
Asked about increasing people’s awareness of their pensions, Ms Trott told the gathering: “I think some great work has been done by the industry… and I hope the Pensions Dashboard (which will eventually enable people to see their pension pots online in one place) will Take it further.”
He added that the key to pension dashboards would be “getting people to use them”.
Asked if he was concerned about people not being able to save for their retirement, he said: “We haven’t actually seen a big drop off, it’s something we watch very closely in the department, and that’s very positive.”
Ms Trott told the gathering that the introduction of auto-enrolment in 2012 had “turned the tide” on the number of people saving for retirement.
He said: “There is still more we can do.”
Ms Trott added: “It’s important to me that the existing stock of defined contribution pensions (is) working hard for pension savers.”
He said savers “deserve the confidence to know their pension scheme is working for them and will deliver the best retirement outcomes”.
Ms Trott said: “I want to be clear that where schemes are not delivering for pension savers, they need to improve, consolidate or exit the market. I’m sure this will help increase returns to pension savers.”
He said he would like to see trustees of schemes focus on ensuring their investment strategies and portfolios are “innovative, with effective diversification, and most importantly, targeting the best net return for savers”.
Ms Trott added: “Together, I’m confident we can boost returns for pension savers and ensure people across the country are able to enjoy the retirement they’ve worked so hard for.”
Where we collect the information from Source link
Disclaimer:- We include in each post a link to where each content on our website is collected from.If there is a complaint against any post please contact us directly.
Email: post-support.dailyfastnews24.com
You can also write on the popular online news portal dailyfastnews24.com. Writing topics feature, travel, lifestyle, career, IT, agriculture and nature. Send your entry today to [email protected]
advertisement:-If you would like to advertise on our website please contact us here.Our Ads team will contact you very soon.
Email: [email protected]
The cost of advertising:- 1 Post 100 USD Lifetime.
Thank you very much for visiting our website. Have a good day.