Women’s equality in the UK – A health check

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with some lone parents threatened with sanctions for refusing jobs that would be impossible to
fit round their children’s needs. 123
Lone parents will also lose out from government proposals to charge for the use of the new
child support scheme, the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission (CMEC), which
will replace the Child Support Agency (CSA). (See Article 16) Once the new scheme is underway,
all existing CSA users will have to choose whether to opt in to the new scheme – and pay the
charges – or make their own arrangements. From 2012 lone parents who use the CMEC are
charged an application fee of up to £100 and between 7% and 12% of any maintenance paid. For
many lone parents on the lowest incomes, these charges may act as a barrier to accessing the
CMEC. They and their children may be left with no support at all from the non-resident parent
or, if they can negotiate some money, it may be far less than what they would be entitled to. 124
(See Appendix: 15 for more information)
Older women
Social care budgets for services to elderly people are due to be cut by an average of 8%,
according to research by Age UK. 125 Almost 2.1 million pensioners living in poverty are women 126
and 3,700,000 women are to be negatively affected by the proposed changes to pension
reforms. 127 Women in later life are often living with the cumulative impact of poverty, having
had lower earnings throughout their lives and are more dependent on State pensions than
older men. 128
In 2009 the Pension Policy Institute called for a policy response from the Government
to recognise the situation of ‘under-pensioned’ individuals who fall into more
than one disadvantaged group and who might therefore experience ‘multiple, or
‘cross-sectional’, disadvantage. 129
Pensions
Over two-thirds of pensioners living in relative poverty are women. 130 Women over the age of
50 are disproportionately represented in part-time, low-waged work and have fewer chances
than men to build full contributions to State or private (occupational/personal) pensions. The
gender difference in private pensions is much greater than that in State pensions with working
age men’s estimated median pension wealth at £20,000, compared with women’s at £10,000
and among women aged over 35, nearly half have accumulated no pension wealth at all. 131 (See
Article 2 and Appendix: 19 for further information)
124. Gingerbread (2011) Strengthening Families, Promoting Parental Responsibility: Government plans for child maintenance http://www.
gingerbread.org.uk/content/592/Policy-work
125. Triggle, N. (2011) ‘Elderly ‘facing cuts to care despite promises’’, BBC News Health, 27th June 2011 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/
health-13907629
126. Women’s Budget Group (2010) The Impact on Women of the Coalition Spending Review 2010. WBG: London http://wbg.org.uk/RRB_
Reports_4_1653541019.pdf
127. The Fawcett Society (2011) The Impact of Austerity on Women. Fawcett: London http://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/wp-content/
uploads/2013/02/The-Impact-of-Austerity-on-Women-19th-March-2012.pdf
128. Women’s Health and Equality Consortium (2011) Why women’s health? WHEC: London http://www.whec.org.uk/wordpress/wp-content/
uploads/downloads/2011/11/WhyWomensHealth11.pdf
129. Pensions Policy Institute (2009) The under-pensioned: disabled people and people from ethnic minorities, PPI Briefing Note Number 50.
PPI: London http://www.pensionspolicyinstitute.org.uk/uploadeddocuments/Briefing%20Notes/PPI_Briefing_Note_50.pdf
130. Office for National Statistics (2010) Pension Trends: Chapter 13 Inequalities and Poverty in Retirement http://tinyurl.com/bsxdy9h
131. Office for National Statistics (2009) Wealth in Great Britain, Main Results from the Wealth and Assets Survey 2006/2008 http://www.ons.
gov.uk/ons/rel/was/wealth-in-great-britain/main-results-from-the-wealth-and-assets-survey-2006-2008/index.html
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