Which? responds to annual Scottish Widows Women and Retirement Report
Gareth Shaw, Head of Money at Which?, said:
“We know from our research that the motherhood pension penalty is leaving women significantly worse off in their retirement, and may leave mothers working part-time saving around £15,000 less over their careers than women working full-time.
“If the next government is committed to closing the pensions gender gap, it should make a contribution to the pensions of first-time parents to ensure they can retire with an adequate pension pot.”
Notes to editors:
- Lump sum for mum – Which? calls on government to address ‘motherhood pension penalty’
- Which?’s consumer agenda for government is calling on the next government to:
- Require all pension schemes to provide comprehensive and consistent information to pensions dashboards, including pension charges and retirement income projection figures, alongside the state pension.
- Make the provision of a dashboard a regulated activity.
- Make a lump sum ‘new parent’ pension contribution to mothers (or other nominated parent/guardian) on the birth of their first child.
- Increase the auto-enrolment default contribution rate for those on middle incomes.
- Ensure there is a cap on the charges consumers pay when investing in income drawdown products without having taken financial advice.
Statement