A new report warns that the upcoming pension auto-enrolment scheme, set to begin in September 2025, will not address the structural inequalities women face in the pension system and could even worsen the gender pension gap.
The report, titled “Still Stuck in the Gap: Pensions Auto-enrolment from a Gender and Care Lens”, was released by the National Women’s Council (NWC). While the scheme is intended to expand occupational pension coverage, the research highlights that it is unlikely to impact the existing 35% gender pension gap, and may even deepen it.
The auto-enrolment scheme will primarily target those in paid employment, but it fails to account for the contributions of women who often take time off work to provide unpaid care or engage in other forms of social participation. According to the report, women are disproportionately affected by this exclusion.
While men are more likely to contribute higher amounts to their occupational pensions, women tend to work in low-paying, part-time jobs, resulting in lower pension contributions. Additionally, women are more likely to take career breaks for unpaid care work, which further limits their ability to build pension savings.
The NWC argues that the scheme, by focusing exclusively on paid employment, does not address the needs of low-paid, part-time workers or those who are not in the workforce, such as carers. It suggests that the new scheme may exacerbate the already significant gender pension gap.
Orla O’Connor, Director of the National Women’s Council, expressed concern over the shortcomings of the reform. “As one of the biggest reforms of our pension system in decades, the new pension auto-enrolment scheme fails to address the deep inequalities in our pension system,” she said. “By tying pension entitlement even closer to paid employment, auto-enrolment leaves out the importance of unpaid care, which impacts women much more than men.”
The NWC is urging the next government to prioritize pension reform that addresses these structural inequalities, calling for a universal pension system that both increases coverage and provides adequate support for all individuals, including those outside the paid workforce.
The report was authored by OisÃn Gilmore, Senior Economist at TASC, and was funded by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission’s grant scheme.