The industry needs to do more to address the ‘pensions gap’ faced by many LGBTQ+ savers, according to a new industry paper.
The Society of Pension Professionals has published a new diversity equity & inclusion paper, which offers insights onto the challenges faces by the LGBTQ+ in the pensions industry and wider business world.
In the paper, Stonewall chief executive Simon Blake outlines a number of steps that pension providers can take to improve LGBTQ+ inclusion, reflected in recent guidance from The Pensions Regulator.
Blake says providers need to ensure paperwork is inclusive, to include the identities and family structures of LGBTQ+ people, and to ensure the diversity of these lives are reflected in scheme information.
He also says there is also a need for more “curiosity” about the history and lives of LGBTQ+ people to support open decision making.
He says: “For example, we may have done our financial planning independently even if we are married because we internalised stories that our relationships don’t last; we didn’t need to plan together because we didn’t have children, and we may not have thought about a pension until later in life because we didn’t expect to grow old.” This needs to be reflected in financial and pension planing to ensure better future outcomes he says.
Blake adds: “As a society we do not focus much attention to the stories of older people in public discourse. There are even fewer stories about older people from the LGBTQ+ community and our experiences of growing older.”
He says: “Despite overall progress, a clear picture of inequality remains which flows through to financial inequality and a LGBTQ+ pensions gap. It is against this backdrop that we are planning our futures.”
This paper also features comments from Savannah Adeniyan, a member of the SPP and Solicitor, Travers Smith LLP. She says: “I know many LGBT+ people who have encountered ‘glass ceilings’ in their workspace. While I can completely be myself at my current firm, the unfortunate reality is that there are still far too many workspaces in which people are not able to be open and out for fear of a genuine risk to their careers.”
She says she remain though positive the tend towards greater inclusivity, particularly it he legal profession where she works.
The SPP’s inclusivity papers can be downloaded here.