Research from Westminster City Council has shown that its pension scheme members from ethnically diverse backgrounds had accrued 30.3 per cent less under the career average revalued earnings scheme than White members.
However, there is currently no measurement of pension gap by race on a level covering all local government pension schemes.
Westminster City Council case study records an 18.7 per cent gender pension gap, compared with 34.7 per cent across the wider Local Government Pension Scheme. Women had accrued approximately 81p in pension benefits for every £1 accrued by men, compared with 65p across the LGPS.
The findings form part of a report backed by research from Investors for Purpose and co-sponsored by the City of Westminster Pension Fund, Hymans Robertson and the LGPS Scheme Advisory Board.
Asian women had accrued approximately 12.7 per cent more pension benefits than Asian men and Black women 3.8 per cent more than Black men, while White women had accrued 23.8 per cent less than White men.
Men from ethnically diverse backgrounds had accrued 46 per cent less than White men, while women from ethnically diverse backgrounds had accrued 30.2 per cent less than White women. Pension outcomes for disabled and non-disabled members were broadly comparable, with disabled members accruing 0.4 per cent more.
Generation Z had the lowest pension participation rates, with 74 per cent of Gen Z men participating in the pension scheme.
Charlotte O’Leary, chief executive of Investors for Purpose, says: “This research shows why pension savings gap research and analysis beyond pure reporting is needed. When taken together and looking at the interaction between and across gender, ethnicity, disability and generation, the picture becomes more complex and more nuanced reflecting a need to understand root causes and systemic impacts before setting policy.”
The research for the study included 30 one-to-one interviews with employees, each lasting between 30 and 45 minutes.
