The gender pension gap among self-employed retirement savers is smaller than for those who are employed, standing at 32 per cent and 38 per cent respectively, according to analysis from PensionBee.

The provider, which looked at its own invested customers for the analysis, said the gap was more pronounced among those aged 55 and over at retirement, with the gap for those in this age group who self-identified as ‘employed’ widening to 52 per cent, compared to 37 per cent for self-employed savers of the same age.

For those under the age of 55, the gap was 28 per cent for the self-employed and 35 per cent among the employed.

PensionBee’s analysis also found that the average overall pension pot size of its self-employed customers was 6 per cent higher than that of their employed counterparts, with the self-employed having an average pot size of £23,600 compared to £22,300 for employed customers.

The company launched a pension specifically for the self-employed in January and stated that almost 40 per cent of those who had signed up for the plan were women.

PensionBee chief executive, Romi Savova, commented: “It’s disappointing to see that, on average, women across the UK have less in their pension pots than their male counterparts. Everyone deserves to look forward to a happy retirement regardless of their gender, and more must be done to tackle this issue.

“However, it is encouraging to see the self-employed, a group that has been long underserved by the pensions industry and overlooked by auto-enrolment, making progress in closing the gender pension gap. To avoid a shortfall in later life more must be done to level the playing field, and female savers must be encouraged to make additional contributions to their pension on a regular basis, starting now.”

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