One in five women retiring in 2014 will rely on state pension alone

Women are three times more likely than men to have no other pension income, a survey by Prudential reveals
Elderly women snoozing in deckchairs
About 20% of women said they had no provision for their retirement apart from the state pension. Photograph: Kathy deWitt / Alamy/Alamy

Women retiring this year are nearly three times as likely as men to have only the state pension to live on, according to a report by the insurer Prudential. Some 20% of women, who often take career breaks or work part time to support families, said they have no other pension provision, compared with 7% of men, the research found.

The Prudential interviewed more than 1,000 people intending to retire in 2014 and found that nearly one in five (18%) people will have an income below the "minimum income standard" as defined by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

The foundation estimates that a single pensioner needs an income of at least £8,600 a year to reach a minimum socially acceptable standard of living; a retired couple needs an annual income of more than £12,500.

The findings follow shake-ups announced by the government for the pensions industry in the three weeks since the budget, which aim to prevent people being placed into workplace pension schemes with high charges as reforms to place people automatically into pensions are introduced. The government has also announced measures to make it easier for people to cash in their pension pot when they retire, rather than having to buy an annuity, which usually guarantees someone a fixed income for the rest of their life.

Vince Smith-Hughes, a retirement income expert at Prudential, said: "The changes to pensions and how people can take their retirement income announced in the budget last month will provide savers and retirees with more choices. However, they don't alter the fundamental fact that many people are not saving enough for a comfortable retirement."