Women’s pension savings at retirement are less than half the size of men’s, according to a financial services provider’s analysis of its workplace pensions data.

Legal & General analysed more than 4.5 million defined contribution (DC) workplace pension savers.

When looking at thousands of people who retired last year, it found that women had typically built a pot of £12,000 at retirement, while men had £26,000 put away.

The findings did not take into account any savings which may be placed elsewhere, or state pension entitlement.

The study by Legal & General, which also looked more widely across pension savers who are its members rather than just those who are retired, found the gender pensions gap exists across different sectors, and ranges from a gap of 59% among pension savers working in the healthcare industry, to 13% in courier services.

The healthcare (59%), construction (51%), real estate/property development (48%), pharmaceutical (46%), aerospace, defence and government services (46%), and senior care (45%) sectors were found to have the particularly big pensions gender gaps.

Rita Butler-Jones, co-head of defined contribution at Legal & General, said: “It is striking that some of the sectors where we see the highest gender pensions gaps – such as senior care, healthcare and pharmaceuticals – are also among the top sectors for female employment.”

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