The Know Daily - Tuesday 5 September 2023

_{Read in 5m 34s ∙ Listening to Benét}

Atlantic puffins living off the coast of Maine, in the US, had their second consecutive rebound year for fledgling chicks. Conservationists have cheered the species’ comeback - which has been in spite of record warm waters due to climate change. These puffins have serious “Maine character energy”, remarked Euronews.

💰 The Carer’s Pension Gap, explained

A new report has highlighted the stark impact that unpaid care duties can have on people’s private pension pots in the UK.

Tell me more.
There are an estimated 4.7 million unpaid carers in England and Wales - and a first-of-its-kind study from PensionBee, a leading online pension provider, has uncovered the impact of caring responsibilities on retirement savings.

The Carer’s Pension Gap report revealed that every year that someone spends out of work to fulfil unpaid care duties is equivalent to £5,000 less in their pension pot when they retire.

This means that someone who needs to provide unpaid care at all “five key care moments” - in other words, looking after children, parents, a partner, grandparents and grandchildren - could see their pot valued at almost £30,000 less at retirement than others without such responsibilities.

Who is providing this unpaid care - and why?
Just over two-thirds (67%) of the 1,489 survey respondents said they had taken time out of work to provide unpaid care for a relative.

The most common reason for doing so was to care for children (48%), while three of the five “key care moments” - looking after a partner, parents and grandchildren - were most commonly faced by those approaching retirement in their late fifties and early sixties.

And is there a gender divide?
Yes - but perhaps not as much as you may have expected. “Women are more likely to face the consequences of the biggest gap: the childcare gap”, said Becky O’Connor, Director of Public Affairs at PensionBee, but “male carers are more likely than female carers to look after their parents or partner”.

Taking time out to care for children is believed to be a root cause of the gender pension gap, which currently stands at 35% nationally.

What should be done to address this?
“Millions of workers; both male and female, old and young, are filling the gaps created by a lack of social care support,” said PensionBee’s O’Connor.

As a result of the study’s findings, the pension provider is calling on the government to review the adequacy of the State Pension and the provision of other benefits for unpaid carers.