More than 1.8 million people still receive less than £100 per week in state pension, around 1.4 million of whom are women, figures from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have revealed.

Although this marks an improvement on the previous year, as around 2 million people received less than £100 per week in 2020/1, including 1.57 million women.

The average weekly amount of new state pension received by women has also risen to £170.30, while women on the basic state pension received an average weekly payment of £151.74.

Despite these improvements, industry experts warned that the gap in average weekly state pension payments remains "stark", with men on the new state pension receiving an average of £175.73 and men on the basic state pension receiving an average £178.55 weekly.

“The new state pension has done much to boost the financial resilience of women in retirement and close the gap with men," Hargreaves Lansdown senior pensions and retirement analyst, Helen Morrissey, stated.

"This is great news but the comparison between what women receive on the new and basic rate pension systems is stark – on average more than £18 per week.

"We also forget that many people do not receive anywhere near the full amount of state pension and there are currently 1.8m people receiving less than £100 per week.

"Again, the vast majority of these are women who have accrued large gaps in their National Insurance contribution history due to time taken away from the workforce to care for family.

"Many of these people may well have other sources of income to see them through retirement but for those who don’t life can be a real financial struggle."

Although record increases to the state pension could be on the horizon, Morrissey noted that savers are still awaiting news as to whether the government will reinstate the triple lock after suspending it last year.

Industry experts have also called on the government to maintain pension saving incentives in the autumn Budget, amid concerns that the triple lock and tax relief incentives could be in jeopardy.

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