The University of Manchester has published a report entitled: Pensions and Divorce: Exploratory Analysis of Quantitative Data.

The report has found that, within couples, men have substantially more private pension wealth than women, which poses particular challenges should they divorce. The researchers analysed the pension wealth of almost 30,000 people over the age of 30.

They found that married men have the most, with those aged 45-54 having a median pension wealth of about £86,000 (compared with £40,000 for married women) and those aged 55-64 having £185,000 (compared with £55,800 for women).

For those aged 65-69, the gap is even wider – median pension wealth for men of that age is just over £212,000, compared to just £35,000 for women.

The data also showed that while around 90% of couples have some pension wealth between them, in about half of couples with pensions, one partner has more than 90% of the pension wealth. Fewer than 15% of couples have pensions that are approximately equal.

The researchers concluded that there is considerable potential for pension sharing when it comes to divorce, which could have a considerable positive impact on women’s finances in later life.

Divorcing couples often fail to take into account their pension wealth when dividing their money and property, despite a long-standing mechanism that is available for them to do so. The report is accompanied by a useful video which it is hoped will help divorcing couples understand the legal context for pension sharing.

For more information about financial planning in divorce, read our article, ‘dividing assets in a divorce’.

Alternatively, get in touch with one of our expert advisers.

The information in this article is correct as of 23/11/2021.