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The opdu Report - Issue 18, May 2005 There are probably still a few people around in the pensions industry who perceive the Pensions Advisory Service as being an organisation that deals solely with members’ complaints and disputes. That is, of course, still an important and significant part of our work. But we have in recent times also developed a general pensions information and advice role which is by no means limited to dispute resolution. We now have a pensions helpline which receives well over 1000 enquiries every week on a variety of issues covering all aspects of pensions, including the state pension. In consequence of this, we decided last year to set up experimentally a further dedicated helpline aimed specifically at women. This was because we knew from our experience that pensions for women were intrinsically more complicated than those for men and that many women were unclear about their entitlements, when they could claim in their own right, when they had to rely on husbands’ contributions and so on. We were also aware from other published data that women generally have lower pensions than men because of lower lifetime pay and career breaks due to caring responsibilities such as bringing up children. The principal objective, therefore, of the pilot helpline was to help raise the profile of pension issues affecting women, to help women of all ages better understand their pension position and to provide whatever help we could on some of the options they had for providing pensions for themselves. The helpline ran from 18 October to 10 December. It was promoted mainly by issuing press releases and obtaining coverage in newspapers, on radio and in, one instance, on television. Nearly 8,000 enquiries were received on the phones. We also issued 60,000 copies of the comprehensive booklet we had produced to accompany the helpline entitled “Women and Pensions – know your pension rights and options”. A further 1,700 copies of this were downloaded from our website. So was the experience worthwhile? Well, yes it was in the sense that we were able to help many women have a better understanding of their pension position and in some instances offer them real practical advice. It was also useful because of what it told us about women’s attitudes and concerns about the pension system as a whole and where they felt many of the problems lay. It confirmed what other studies have revealed that for many women building up an adequate pension in their own right is extremely difficult – there are many obstacles stemming from lifestyle and other factors to be overcome along the way. There was also not surprisingly a good deal of confusion about rights and entitlements. The inter-relationships between the NI contribution record, the basic state pension and SERPS/S2P were not always appreciated. The rules relating to contracting-out of SERPS/S2P were a source of difficulty and doubt and there appeared to be little or no understanding of Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) or the benefits it could provide. Interestingly enough the question of a possible Citizens Pension appears to be starting to filter out into the public psyche and we had a number of questions about it. One woman made the very valid point that uncertainty about the continuation of the contributory principle (the Citizens Pension would be based on a residency requirement not NI contributions) meant that she was unsure whether it was worth her while paying voluntary NI contributions at the present time. We could not of course give her a definitive answer on this but clearly the longer it takes before a decision is taken on the Citizens Pension – one way or another – the more this sort of personal planning blight will exist. In relation to private pensions, divorce and part-timer rights appeared to be the main problem areas for our women callers. Here again we were left in no doubt that many women can be very exposed in middle or late middle life in consequence of not having had the chance to make private provision in the past and would appreciate the opportunity to have a pension of their own wherever possible. So, much food for thought then in all of this. It is worth noting that 80% of our callers were aged 50 years and over and 7 out of 10 callers were not making any private pension savings at all. We also know that currently a mere 16 per cent of women get a full basic state pension on the basis of their own contributions compared with 78 per cent of men. There appears to be no doubt, therefore, that for older women at least when it comes to pension provision they are way behind men. The DWP are on record as saying they intend to produce a report on women’s pensions by the end of this calendar year. We have accordingly provided them with details of the conclusions reached in the running of our helpline which we hope will be of some use to them in their continuing deliberations and in support of any further research study they may themselves which to undertake. Malcolm McLean
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