The gender pensions gap for 35-39-year-old savers has increased by 3 per cent over the past year, research from Aviva has revealed, with Aviva highlighting this age as a "clear line in the sand" when women often make milestone career and childcare decisions.

The research, which was based on the workplace pension data for over five million pension plans, discovered that the gap between women’s and men’s pension contributions for 35-39-year-olds was 21 per cent in January 2023, compared to 18 per cent in January 2022.

Aviva's research also discovered that this disparity began to “significantly” widen from the age of 35, increasing from a gap of 17 per cent for the age group 30-34 by 4 per cent for 35-39-year-olds and by an additional 3 per cent for ages 40-44.

The gap was additionally discovered to have widened since last year, increasing by 2 per cent from 2022 to 2023 for 30-34-year-olds and by 1 per cent for 40-44 year-olds.

Aviva cautioned that this disparity in pension contributions could lead to an imbalance persisting into retirement, reporting that women aged 60-65-years-old had pension pots which are, on average, just over half (57 per cent) the size of men’s pots at the same age.

Aviva’s research did not just discover widenings of the gap, however, as it also reported that the gap in contributions narrowed from age 45 upwards.

The research also discovered that this narrowing continued for all savers up to the age group of 65 and over, where the gap was 39 per cent, 10 per cent less than the figure recorded in 2022 and the biggest fall for any age group in Aviva's research.

Aviva managing director for wealth, Michele Golunska, commented: “This suggests a clear line in the sand around the age that women are often making milestone career and childcare decisions and considering opting to work part-time.

“Pension contributions are unlikely to be a deciding factor when considering whether to work part-time, but what is important is that the long-term impact on a pension is understood when making that decision. This is crucial to good financial planning.

“Some might consider upping their pension contributions, but this would have to be carefully balanced against disposable income. An option that some parents may consider is sharing the caring responsibilities to help spread the long-term impact on pension savings.”

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