CII reveals gender pay and pension gap

It is three years since organisations in the UK started publishing figures on the gender pay gap.

The CII can now report the professional body had a median gender pay gap of 13.94 per cent in 2020 compared with 14.62 per cent in 2019.

However, the CII’s mean gender pay gap marginally widened from 14.77 per cent in 2019 to 16.25 per cent in 2020.

During the last three years the CII has re-evaluated roles to address any historic anomalies towards part-time workers; moved to Anytime Anywhere working; trained managers to recognise and overcome unconscious biases; and committed to the Insuring Women’s Futures Financial Flexible Working and Inclusive Customer Financial Lives pledges.

This year the professional body for insurance and personal finance professionals also reported the gender pension gap.

Data based on the 215 employees who were contributing to the CII’s Stakeholder Pension Scheme on 30 April 2020 revealed a gender pension gap of 11.18 per cent.

The figures used in this calculation included both employer and employee contributions.

In 2019, the total gender pension pay gap (median average) was 18.93 per cent.

A  larger  proportion  of  male  employees  (33 per cent)  than  female  employees  (28 per cent) make personal pension contributions and of those, a greater proportion of the male contributors do so on a percentage basis (53 per cent of the group) compared with female contributors (43 per cent).

Sian Fisher, CEO of the Chartered Insurance Institute, said: “The CII is committed to improving the recruitment and progression of women, boosting female financial resilience, and reducing the gender pay and pension gap.

“It is vital we understand the scale and nature of the problem and master the tools that can help us take the necessary steps to tackle the pay, pension, wealth, and opportunity gaps that exists between the sexes.

“I am proud of the steps we continue to take to tackle gender pay issues and particularly the significant improvement in the gender pension gap. A deterioration of the mean average for the gender pay gap, at the same time as an improvement in the median average, shows how this is an ongoing, complex issue to resolve. We continue to work on reducing the gender pay and pension gap and are confident of further improvement next year.”

The Insuring Women’s Futures Financial Flexible Working pledge commits firms to help their colleagues to understand and manage the long-term financial implications of flexible working. 

The Inclusive Customer Financial Lives pledge commits firms to adopting an inclusive ‘whole customer’ approach, considering the impact of their life circumstances.

The full list of firms that have committed to the Insuring Women’s Futures pledges can be found here: www.insuringwomensfutures.co.uk/pledges-and-commitments.