{"id":5778,"date":"2015-09-16T12:59:13","date_gmt":"2015-09-16T11:59:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=5778"},"modified":"2015-09-16T12:59:13","modified_gmt":"2015-09-16T11:59:13","slug":"end-gender-pensions-gap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=5778","title":{"rendered":"End gender pensions gap"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Ceri Wright, a Unite delegate from the finance sector, spoke today (September 16) on the gender pension gap.<\/p>\n

 
\nAccording to a report from Prudential, women can expect an average retirement income of \u00c2\u014114,300 per annum — this is \u00c2\u01414,800 or 25 per cent less than the \u00c2\u014119,100 expected by men.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bCongress, we rightly condemn and challenge the gender pay gap,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Ceri said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bAnd this motion highlights the need to challenge the gender pensions gap too.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nWomen are failing to receive the same pensions as men as a result of low pay, part-time working, and time off for childcare and other caring.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt is compounded by the fact that many women don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get a full state pension having relied on their husband\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s contributions and are frequently forced to rely on their husband\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pension income in retirement,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Ceri explained.<\/p>\n

 
\nAusterity has also meant that many of those who are low paid are on zero-hours contracts, treated as self-employed and with no employer National Insurance contributions.<\/p>\n

 
\nAt present at least 25 per cent of people are not saving for retirement because they can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t afford to pay into a pension scheme and women are saving 38 per cent less than men.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bCongress, pension poverty is real issue for women,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Ceri said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bMany don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have a pension of their own and three quarters of women pensioners live on or just below the poverty line.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nCeri went on to talk about two issues that need to be addressed urgently.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bFirstly, auto-enrolment \u00e2\u20ac\u201c this compels employers to offer a pension with a minimum level of employer contributions,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bHowever, employers are not obliged to auto-enrol workers earning less than \u00c2\u014110,000 a year \u00e2\u20ac\u201c though workers earning over \u00c2\u01415,800 can opt-in,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she added.<\/p>\n

 
\nThe last government pushed up that threshold to \u00c2\u014110,000 which disproportionately affects the many women who work part-time.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe need auto-enrolment above the \u00c2\u01415,800 threshold and employer contributions on all earnings,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Ceri.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe also need to reverse the ratio between employer and employee contributions,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she added.<\/p>\n

 
\nThe second point Ceri spoke about was state pensions.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe government is bringing in the new single state pension for those reaching state pension age after April 2016,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said.<\/p>\n

 
\nThis will require 35 years of contributions to get a full benefit of around \u00c2\u0141150 a week.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis also disadvantages women who are less likely to accrue those qualifying years,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Ceri.<\/p>\n

 
\nCeri finished by stressing what is needed to end pension inequality.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe need higher pensions and a reduction in the years of contribution required,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said.<\/p>\n

 
\nCalling on Congress to support the motion, Ceri called for an end to the inequality in pensions and the gender pensions gap.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ceri Wright, a Unite delegate from the finance sector, spoke today (September 16) on the gender pension gap.   According to a report from Prudential, women can expect an average retirement income of \u00c2\u014114,300 per annum — this is \u00c2\u01414,800 or 25 per cent less than the \u00c2\u014119,100 expected by men.   \u00e2\u20ac\u015bCongress, we rightly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5783,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[270,392,209],"wps_subtitle":"Women pensioners failed by austerity ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5778"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5778"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5778\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5784,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5778\/revisions\/5784"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}