Women face entering retirement with pension pots 39 per cent lower than their male counterparts, according to new research.

Data from Profile Pensions showed the national average female pension pot was £24,444, compared with a male average of £40,084.

This is more than double the disparity of the gender pay gap, the discrepancy between the average salaries of men and women, which stands at 17.3 per cent.

North Scotland was the region with the greatest difference between the genders, with women in the area facing retirement with an average pension of £20,978, only just over half the size of their male counterparts’ £41,603 pension pots.

Women in Greater London and the West Midlands had the smallest gap in pension pot compared with the local male average, though the disparity still stood at 30 per cent.

Profile Pensions chief investment officer, Michelle Gribbin, said: “Our analysis lays bare the huge disparity between male and female pension pots. This gender pensions gap is endemic in our society, born out of hundreds of years of cultural factors such as salary discrepancy.

“There is a lot of awareness around the gender pay gap but we also want to highlight the huge disparity that many women approaching retirement are facing.”

Gribbin stated that providers and employers should be “more transparent about how this retirement shortfall comes about”, adding that “a heightened awareness of pensions is the best way that we can make sure this gap narrows”.

“Figures like today’s should be a wake-up call to women across the UK to take action and make sure that they manage what savings they do have to reach their best potential,” she concluded.

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