‘Government should top up women’s pensions due to care earnings gap’

The Government should pay into the personal pensions of women who take time out of work to care for children or elderly relatives, according a report by think tank the Social Market Foundation.

The think tank says that, without significant new support for women’s pensions, increasing lifespans will widen economic gaps between the sexes and see women’s wealth falling further behind men.

Its “Gender equality and the 100-year life” report says people still tend to expect women to bear most of the burden of looking after children and elderly relatives.  For instance, 27% would expect a brother to care for elderly family, but 34% say a sister should do so.

To stop the earnings gap widening as a result of care breaks, the Government should consider paying into the pension pots of women who take time out of work to care, says the report.

It states that in 2016, the ONS estimated that a woman on maternity leave carries out weekly unpaid work with an economic value of £762.75, well above the average regular weekly wage.  Applying the current 3% minimum contribution rates from automatic enrolment pensions schemes to such a value would mean a new Government contribution of £22.88 per week, or £1189.89 per year, to that woman’s pension pot.

The research also shows:

• Only 32% of men said they felt people expected them to care for older parents.   37% of women felt they were expected to do so.
• A difference between how men and women view the amount of time men spend on childcare. 37% of men aged 35 to 54 said they share caring duties equally with their partner. Only 20% of women in the same age group said the same.
• Men felt they were more likely to have flexible working turned down than women. One third of men (33%) said they believed that their request for flexible working to care for a partner or relative would be turned down, compared to just over a quarter of women (27%) who said the same.

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