British Academy: The UK's National Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences
Why has it all gone wrong? The past, present and future of British pensions
Abstract
Gender: Sidelined in Pension Policy
Professor Jay Ginn (Surrey)
Pension reforms in Britain, as elsewhere in OECD countries, have been justified as necessary due to the ageing population, although this has been strongly contested. British pension policy since 1980 has aimed to increase saving through private pensions and to curb spending on state pensions, while increased means testing has been used to alleviate pensioner poverty.
However, it is only recently that women?s disadvantage in pensions, especially older women?s excess share of poverty, has been officially acknowledged. This is despite much research demonstrating how the adverse effect of women?s caring roles on their pension accumulation is reinforced by pension privatisation.
Social changes such as the loosening link between marriage and motherhood pose new questions for pension systems still largely based on the male breadwinner model of pension provision for carers. Moreover, debate as to the optimum balance of state and private pensions has taken on a new urgency as the inherent risk of equity-based investment becomes increasingly apparent.
In this paper, I review how recent pension policy affects working age and pensioner women, distinguishing according to maternal roles, marital status, class and ethnicity. Alternative reforms that could minimise women?s disadvantages are considered.