Women are three times less likely to meet the auto-enrolment eligibility threshold of £10,000 per year, research from Nest Insight and Vanguard has revealed.

Analysis of Nest’s members found that, although there was no difference in savings behaviour by gender, women saving in Nest are three times more likely than men to be under the auto-enrolment threshold.

Equal numbers of men and women had made additional contributions to their pension pots, suggesting that the differences in savings were driven by structural factors in the UK labour market, such as earnings, gender concentration in certain sectors, and job turnover.

Commenting on the findings, Vanguard senior retirement strategist, Will Allport, said: “Our research shows that the ‘gender pensions gap’ is not driven, under the current policy of auto-enrolment, by gender differences in retirement saving and investment behaviour, but arises from structural factors within the UK labour market.

“To address the shortfall of female retirement wealth relative to male, we should refocus our attention on the differences in average earnings and working patterns between genders.

“Furthermore, lowering the earnings threshold for auto-enrolment eligibility, or making contributions on the first pound of earnings rather than adhering to the lower earnings limit, would both help to narrow the disparity between male and female retirement wealth.”

The research also found that men were twice as likely to be in the highest income bracket.

Nest Insight assistant director, Matthew Blakstad, added: “We need robust research like this to help tackle the challenges facing Nest members and other defined contribution savers.

“Auto-enrolment has helped the industry take a huge leap towards that shared goal, but there’s more work to be done.

“This issue is at the forefront for the pensions industry and policy makers, and we hope that this new evidence will provide useful insights into how we can help close the gender pensions gap.”

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