Divorced women in the UK face a pension gap of 61 per cent compared with divorced men, according to research from Now:Pensions and the Pensions Policy Institute (PPI).

The findings, released on so-called ‘Divorce Day’, showed that divorced women typically had £53,160 less in pension savings than their male counterparts.

It found that divorced women held just 39 per cent of the pension wealth of divorced men, with median pension wealth standing at £32,640 for women compared with £85,800 for men.

Among married individuals, the gender pension gap also remained pronounced, with men holding a median pension wealth of £111,540, compared with £43,656 for women.

Despite pensions being the second-largest asset in a marriage after property, the research highlighted that pension assets were routinely overlooked in divorce proceedings.

Just 11 per cent of the more than 100,000 divorces in 2024 and 2025 involved pension attachment orders, while 71 per cent of divorce settlements did not take pension assets into account, often prioritising housing instead.

The analysis also pointed to significant consequences for retirement incomes.

Assuming retirement at age 66, pension savings need to last around 13 years for men and 17 years for women.

However, the average annual pension income for divorced women stood at £13,893, just over the UK’s minimum retirement living standard of £13,400.

By contrast, divorced men received more than £18,500 a year on average.

Employment patterns were identified as a key driver of the gap, with 30 per cent of divorced women working part-time, compared with 10 per cent of divorced men, and women earned 37 per cent less on average (£31,279 versus £45,540).

As a result, divorced women were twice as likely to be excluded from automatic enrolment as men, with 6 per cent falling outside the system compared with 3 per cent of men.

Mercer UK head of campaigns, Samantha Gould, said the research highlighted the scale of pension inequality facing women after divorce, describing the gap as “stark” and with "serious implications" for retirement security.

“We are committed to promoting greater pension equality for all, regardless of gender,” she continued.

“To address this imbalance, we support the implementation of automatic pension sharing in divorce, a measure that would narrow the pension savings gap and help divorced women to enjoy the retirement they deserve.”

Echoing this, Now:Pensions master trust chair of trustees, Joanne Segars OBE, warned that structural features of the auto-enrolment system were contributing to poorer outcomes for women, as current eligibility rules meant many people are unable to save at all, particularly those with lower or fragmented earnings.

Segars stressed that too many individuals were effectively excluded from pension saving because they did not meet the age and earnings thresholds in a single role.

“As a consequence, far too many groups in our society experience an uncomfortable reality, and they are ‘locked out’ of the pension auto-enrolment system,” she added.

“As a result, these groups find themselves on the wrong side of a growing pension savings gap.”

Segars concluded that now:pensions’ focus remained on supporting reforms that would deliver a fairer pensions framework and improve retirement outcomes for those currently left behind.

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