Women going through menopause face £126k retirement shortfall

The menopause could leave a £63,000 dent in a woman’s retirement savings as a result of moving to reduced hours, or £126,000 if they stop working altogether, according to a new report by Royal London.

Around a million women have left the workforce as a result of menopausal symptoms, however Royal London says that the menopause is "widely unregistered when discussing women’s retirement savings".

Menopausal symptoms have forced thousands of women to reduce their hours or worse still, leave work altogether. As a result, these women are missing out on important pension savings at a key stage in their life.

The research shows that a 50-year-old woman in full time work until the state pension age of 67 could be better off by over £126,000 in pension savings, when compared to a counterpart who stopped working at the same age.

This is compounded by the fact that those aged 55 and over are saving the greatest amount for their retirement, more than twice as much as those aged 18-34.

In addition, men are already saving more into their workplace pension. Just 20% of eligible women contribute over the statutory minimum of 8% to their workplace pension, compared to 28% of men.

50% of women view their earnings as a barrier to saving more versus just 30% of men.

As a result of saving less, women are significantly less confident than men that their pension contributions will be enough to provide them with sufficient income for the duration of their retirement.

Almost half of women (48%) said they weren’t confident, compared with only 28% of men. Overall, women have much wider and deepfelt concerns about what retirement may have in store for them.

Clare Moffat, pensions expert at Royal London, said: “While the introduction of automatic enrolment ten years ago helped more women than ever save into a pension, the UK still faces a yawning gender pension gap.

“Women in their 50s, for a variety of reasons, are much more susceptible to leaving the workforce than men. Separate studies show that caring responsibilities mean women are twice as likely to be forced to leave their job than men. However, a notable barrier to remaining in work, which is only just beginning to receive increased awareness, is the menopause.

“While symptoms vary between individuals, for many women the menopause can have a big impact on their everyday life, often resulting in them reducing the hours they work or stopping work altogether. It’s only further down the line that the resulting missed pension contributions becomes apparent, but by then it may be too late.”