A new report from the University of Edinburgh says the UK pensions system and financial advice sector must be redesigned to address a widening gap between men’s and women’s pension wealth.

According to the analysis, women approaching age 60 hold 75% less in private pension savings than men of the same age.

The report, supported by wealth manager Evelyn Partners, finds that women’s lower accumulations are largely driven by structural and social factors rather than a lack of confidence.

Nearly 15 million people in the UK are currently not saving enough for retirement, Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) figures show.

Women are disproportionately affected, with median Defined Contribution (DC) pension wealth of £19,000 by age 59 compared with £75,000 for men, the DWP data indicates.

The report, It’s Not About Confidence: The Hidden Forces Shaping Women’s Financial Futures, argues that long-standing narratives around a supposed “confidence gap” obscure more complex influences on women’s financial engagement.

“For too long, the ‘confidence gap’ narrative we see in financial advice and media reports has masked the real systemic, situational and social factors that result in the pensions gulf,” said Emily Shipp, psychologist and associate at the Edinburgh Futures Institute, who authored the report.

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