Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he will take to eliminate inequalities in pension rights.

The decision was made in 1995 to equalise the State Pension age for men and women. This addressed a longstanding inequality in pension age. If State Pension ages had not been equalised, women would be spending over 40% of their adult life in retirement. Men’s and women’s State Pension age will equalise in November 2018.

The new State Pension is much more generous for many women, who have been historically worse off under the old system. By 2030, over 3 million women stand to gain an average of £550 extra per year as a result of recent changes.

Automatic enrolment into workplace pensions was designed to help more people save for their retirement, including groups who historically have been less likely to save, such as women and lower earners. In 2012, overall workplace participation by eligible female employees was 58 per cent, compared to male participation at 52 per cent but since the introduction of automatic enrolment, the participation of female eligible employees has increased to 80 per cent in 2016 with overall male participation at 76 per cent.

As part of the current review of automatic enrolment, the Government has committed to look at the existing coverage of the policy and consider the needs of those not currently benefiting from automatic enrolment. The review will have regard to the Equality Act, as well as the need to balance the needs of individual savers, with affordability for employers and value for money for tax payers.