Membership of an employer’s pension scheme varied according to the sex of the respondent and whether they worked full or part time.
- Among both sexes, employees working full time were more likely than part-time workers to belong to their employer's pension scheme. For example, 58% of women working full time belonged to an occupational scheme compared with 33% working part time.
- Among part time workers 33% of women compared with 12% of men belonged to their employer's pension scheme.
The variation in membership of an occupational scheme reflects differences in whether a scheme was available and whether the respondent thought that they were eligible to belong. Overall, more than two thirds of employees (71% of men and women) reported that their current employer offered an occupational pension scheme and about one in ten (8% of men and 9% of women) said that they were not eligible to belong to the scheme offered.
Employees who worked part time were less likely than those working full time to have access to an occupational pension scheme and were more likely to say that they were not eligible for the scheme.
- More than three quarters (78%) of women who worked full time reported that their current employer had a pension scheme compared with 63% of women working part time.
- 12% of women who worked part time said that they were not eligible for their employer's scheme compared with 6% of women working full time. (The proportions were 19% and 8% respectively when based on women whose employer actually ran a pension scheme.)
Table 6.2, Figure 6A
Employees who belong to an occupational pension scheme may make further contributions known as Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs). In 2001:
- 7% of men and women who worked full time were currently paying AVCs in addition to their contributions to an occupational pension scheme (table not shown).