Changing patterns of pension inequality: the shift from state to private sources

Abstract

Reform of welfare in Britain has sought to shift the balance of pension provision towards the private sector, with consequences for older people's sources of income. The paper uses data from the General Household Survey to examine changes in older people's income from the state and from private pensions from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, focusing on gender and class inequalities.

Although state pensions and other benefits remained the major source of income, especially for women, the relative contribution of private pensions to total income had increased substantially for men. Receipt of private pensions had become more widespread, with narrowing gender and class differences in coverage among older people. However, gender inequality in the amount received had widened and the relative advantage of different occupational groups had changed. Personal pensions had had little impact on the distribution of income among older people, and provided much smaller amounts of income than occupational pensions.