What special issues are there for women?

The information in workSMART's questions and answers applies to both men and women. But there are a number of issues that particularly affect women. Women get a rough deal from the present pensions system. You can lose out in a number of ways.

These include:

• spending time out of work looking after children or other dependents may mean that you do not get the opportunity to save in an occupational scheme, although this time will normally count towards building up a state pension.
• low paid jobs may pay less than the lower earnings limit for national insurance. This means that you are not building up entitlement to your state retirement pension. Each job counts separately so those combining part time jobs can earn over the limit altogether, but still miss out if each pays below the limit.
• many women in the past paid a reduced national insurance contribution known as the married women's stamp, this does not build up a right to an individual state pension.
• women earn less than men on average so any earnings related pension will also tend to be less.

This all adds up to a raw deal for many women.

There's an overview of women's pension issues on the The Pensions Advisory Service (TPAS)website here. TPAS also operate a  helpline specifically for answering questions about women and pensions.  The number is 0845 600 0806