This makes childcare unaffordable for the average family, with just over a third (37 per cent) of mothers and 33 per cent of fathers having professional childcare for any days of the working week.
Jackie Leiper, managing director at Scottish Widows, said: “Despite how familiar we all are with the gender pension gap issue, the long-term impact on the day-to-day reality for women when they retire is less talked about.
“Understandably, single women affected by the motherhood penalty and the cost of solo parenting may be more focused on how to support their family today, but this report shows the struggle they could face by the time they become grandmothers.”
Meanwhile, nearly half (44 per cent) of mothers spend all five working days looking after their children (compared to just 16 per cent of fathers), which limits the hours that women can work over their lifetime and compounds the impact of the gender pay gap.
This is why the gender pension gap ends up being over double the size of the gender pay gap (39 per cent compared to 15 per cent).
Despite expansions to childcare support recently announced by the UK Government, pressures are likely to continue.
Leiper said: “We must recognise the amount of childcare responsibility that falls on single mothers and their huge contribution to society which means they should be protected by policies to limit the impact it has on their careers and pensions.
“The government needs to prioritise affordable childcare to improve the retirement prospects for all mothers and single mothers in particular.”
The childcare issue also has ramifications beyond mothers, with more than half (52 per cent) of grandmothers and 45 per cent of grandfathers regularly looking after their grandchildren for at least one day of the working week.
More than one in seven grandmothers (15 per cent) have had to reduce their working hours to help raise their grandchildren, putting pressure on their own retirement lifestyle prospects.
Alesha De-Freitas, head of policy, Advocacy and Research at the Fawcett Society, said: “The findings of this report underscore the stark reality of the inequalities that disadvantage women throughout their lives.
“The government needs to make urgent changes to rebalance the drastic inequality that will see 75 per cent of single mothers plunged into poverty when they reach retirement age.
“We need urgent childcare reform that prioritises accessibility and affordability for everyone, and this needs to work in tandem with an economy that delivers high quality flexible work.”
De-Freitas added: “The fact that we have neither of these benefits means that the current cohort of young mothers will be significantly poorer for the rest of their lives. We cannot afford to burden future generations with the same problems.”
sonia.rach@ft.com
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