The latest figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show a higher proportion of women than men in workplace pension schemes.

Insurer Royal London notes that this is likely to be down to the fact that pension membership rates are much higher in the public sector, where women make up a larger proportion of the workforce.

Nevertheless, Royal London’s head of policy Steve Webb warns that women are still a long way off achieving pension equality with their male counterparts.

Whilst it is great news that more women are now members of workplace pensions than in the past, he notes that there is still a pension gulf between men and women.

“Being a member of a pension is a great start, but the size of your pension will depend on how much you earn and how much you and your employer contribute.

“On both of these fronts, inequalities in the jobs market mean that women are still lagging far behind men when it comes to building up decent pensions. On current trends, women’s pension equality could still be decades away,” he concluded.