State pension gender gap ‘almost closed’ for new retirees – but private gap widens

The gender pension gap has been almost completely eliminated when it comes to the state pensions of people retiring today, according to new data.

A reply from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) to a Freedom of Information request, made by the former pensions minister Steve Webb, said “the amounts [of new state pension] for men and women are on course to be equal very shortly”.

For the most recent group of retirees for which figures are available (those reaching state pension age in the year to November 2024), the gap between what men and women receive from the new state pension has shrunk to under 1%.

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According to the FOI, the average newly retired man now gets a pension of £209.95 per week, with the average newly retired woman getting £208.15 – within 1% of her male counterpart.

We look at how much state pension you will get in a separate article.

As the post-2016 ‘new’ state pension system continues to bed in, this gap is expected to close further and could even lead to a situation where women narrowly overtake men when it comes to state pensions. Both groups benefit from the triple lock.

Webb, partner at pension consultancy LCP who, as pensions minister, was the architect of the new state pension system, said: “When there is so much negative news about gaps between men and women when it comes to pensions, these figures show that things can be changed provided that there is the political will to do so.”

“There are however, far too many women who have already retired who are living on reduced pensions and I will continue to campaign for them to be treated fairly, including by rooting out all of the errors which have led to so many being underpaid for so long”.

State pension gender gap

Since the state pension was introduced in the late 1940s there has been a big difference between the typical pensions paid to men and women.

Even today, the average state pension paid to men and women who retired under the old state pension system differs greatly, with men getting an average of £217.30 compared with an average of £186.44 for the average woman.

This puts the average woman on just 86% of the pension of her male counterpart.

These figures also ignore the fact that many women on decent state pensions now are widows whose pension only rose when their husband died and who previously spent many years on a lower figure.

However, in 2016 a new state pension system was introduced and one of its specific goals was to gradually eliminate the gender pension gap in state pensions.

The new system had to be phased in gradually, not least to protect the rights people had already built up under the old system. But those transitional protections are gradually working their way out of the system, with the result that the gap between men and women is reducing with every passing year.

Private pension gender gap

While it is good news the state pension gender gap is being eliminated, it is a different story when it comes to private pensions. The government's second report on the Gender Pensions Gap paints a bleak picture for women's retirement outcomes.

It shows that over the last two years the gender pensions gap has moved sharply in the wrong direction, widening by 13 percentage points. This is based on the difference in private pension pot sizes between men and women aged 55 to 59.

Based on the latest official data, the gender pensions gap now stands at a whopping 48%, up from 35% just two years ago.

The report shows that women aged between 55 and 59, on average, can expect to have built up a pension pot of £81,000, giving an estimated annual retirement income of £6,000 from age 60. Meanwhile men will, on average, have a pension pot of £156,000 giving an estimated annual income of £11,000.

Kate Smith, head of pensions at Aegon said: "The reality of pension saving inequality really hits home as on average women will receive just over half the pension income of men. This is compounded, as women, on average, tend to live longer than men, meaning they need to save more, not less.”

The widening of the gender pension gap appears to be related to the move from defined benefit to defined contribution pension provision, Smith said, which appears to be disproportionately affecting women's retirement outcomes more than men's.

"Considering defined contribution pensions are the future for most, it's deeply concerning that the biggest gender pension gap, at 75%, is for those women aged 55 to 59 who only have defined contribution savings wealth.

“And the smallest gender pension gap at the same age is 39% for those who only hold defined benefit wealth, a type of pension arrangement which is in severe decline in the private sector.

“Unless there are radical interventions to close the gender pay gap, address labour market inequalities and societal norms, this doesn't bode well for the future of women's pension equality.”

The revived Pension Commission's remit is to consider the future of the UK's pension system, including addressing pension inequalities.