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Gender pensions gap

ended 10. March 2026

New official data published this morning on employee workplace pensions in the UK in 2024 showed that in the private sector, a gender gap remained with 76% of female employees having a workplace pension compared with 81% of male employees; in the public sector, 90% of male employees and 90% of female employees had a workplace pension.

More broadly, around 8 in 10 workers (82%) were members of workplace pension schemes in 2024; the trend in participation has stabilised in recent years following steady growth between 2012 and 2019 after the introduction of automatic enrolment, a policy introduced by the government to help more people save for retirement.

In 2024, for employees who were in a workplace pension scheme, around 3 in 10 (34%) were members of defined benefit schemes, 4 in 10 (40%) were members of defined contribution schemes (which includes pensions in the National Employment Savings Trust), and 1 in 4 (25%) were in a group scheme.

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4 responses from the Newspage community

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Anita Wright
Chartered Financial Planner at Ribble Wealth Management
The gender gap tells us that access to pension saving is still being shaped by earnings patterns, part-time work, career breaks and lower-paid roles, which disproportionately affect women. In practice, that means equal retirement outcomes do not flow automatically from equal opportunity on paper. Automatic enrolment has unquestionably improved the savings culture, but it was never designed to solve adequacy on its own; getting people into a scheme is only the first step, not the finish line. The more important planning issue is whether contribution levels are actually sufficient to produce a decent retirement income. Also, in many households men tend to take a more active interest in pensions and investments, whereas a significant number of women still defer those decisions to their partner or assume retirement provision will be shared. That arrangement can work while the relationship remains intact, but it creates vulnerability if circumstances change through divorce or bereavement.
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Philly Ponniah
Chartered Wealth Manager and Financial Coach at Philly Financial
Automatic enrolment has been one of the success stories of UK personal finance, but this data shows the job is only half done. Yes, around 8 in 10 workers now have a workplace pension, which is a huge shift from a decade ago but the risk is that participation can make people feel the problem is solved when contribution levels are still often too low to build real retirement security. I see this with some of my clients where they have been automatically enrolled and assume they are “sorted”, but many stay on the default contribution level without ever checking what that actually translates to in retirement income. The gender gap in the private sector also matters. Women are more likely to take career breaks, work part time or fall below auto-enrolment thresholds, which can mean smaller pension pots over time. The next challenge is not just getting people into pensions, but helping them contribute enough and stay invested for the long term.
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Martin Briggs
Independent Financial Adviser at The Retirement Studio
Automatic enrolment has been one of the most positive changes to retirement planning in the UK, but simply being enrolled in a workplace pension doesn’t automatically mean someone is on track for retirement. A lot of people assume that because they have a pension through work everything will take care of itself, but contribution levels are often still quite modest. The gender gap in the private sector is something advisers regularly see reflected in real life. Career breaks, part-time work and time taken out to raise families can all have a long-term impact on pension contributions and overall retirement savings. The success of automatic enrolment has been getting people into pensions. The next step is making sure people are contributing enough and actively engaging with their long-term plans.
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Gosia Dawson
Director at Glade Financial
The gender pension gap doesn’t start at retirement; it builds quietly throughout people’s working lives. Automatic enrolment has been a huge success in bringing millions more people into workplace pensions, but the latest figures show it hasn’t fully solved the underlying gap. Women are still slightly less likely to participate in workplace pensions in the private sector, reflecting broader employment patterns. Women are more likely to work part-time, take career breaks or earn below the automatic enrolment threshold, which can limit both access and contributions. The fact that participation is equal in the public sector shows that when employment structures are more stable, the gap narrows. The next challenge is making sure pension policy reflects modern working lives, not just traditional full-time careers.