Informing the design of inclusive pensions

CPC-CG member Professor Athina Vlachantoni has been examining ethnic differences in pension protection among mid-life and older individuals from minority ethnic communities in the UK.

Financial resilience is important for people of all backgrounds and communities. This project helps policymakers understand inequalities in pension protection between minority ethnic communities, and how to reduce them. The findings show how individuals and families from a wide range of communities prepare financially for later life. They highlight the barriers and opportunities that different communities face to build greater financial resilience.

Studying ethnic differences on how people age and reach later life is a key area of expertise for the Centre for Research on Ageing. Their research has highlighted ethnic inequalities in physical, mental and financial resources.

Professor Athina Vlachantoni, Professor Yuanyuan Yin, Dr Spela Mocnik and Dr Saddaf Naaz Akhtar combine multidisciplinary expertise to explore ethnic differences in pensions and savings using a combination of research methods. They work with people from a range of minority ethnic communities in Southampton. They want to understand pension protection, finances and saving. The ESRC Inclusive Ageing grant enables the research team to undertake statistical analysis of national datasets.

In March 2024, the project team were interviewed on Awaaz FM’s The Community Hour, sharing the aims of the project and encouraging participants from minority ethnic communities to participate (if you are aged 45 and over, from any ethnic group and would like to take part, please email S.Mocnik@soton.ac.uk).



The contributions of research partners feed into the research design and discussion of the project findings.The research partners include:

Southampton City Council
Department for Work and Pensions
AgeUK Southampton
Pensions Policy Institute
People’s Pension
Citizens Advice Southampton
Runnymede Trust

The voices and perspectives of people from different age groups are at the heart of this research, enhancing collaboration between the research team and local communities to conduct research which makes a difference in individuals’ lives. Financial resilience is a lifelong pursuit, so it is important to know what young adults think about these topics too. In March 2024, the project team hosted a full-day teaching event with year 11 pupils from Cantell School in Southampton on financial resilience. Pupils were asked how they think about their future selves, they were encouraged to discuss the benefits of saving for later life, and ways this can be achieved, as well as being shown some of the project findings to enable discussions.

This research followed on from Professor Athina Vlachantoni and Professor Jane Falkingham's work in 2012. With a research grant from the ESRC Secondary Data Analysis Initiative, they examined ethnic differences in pension protection. They looked at mid-life and older individuals from minority ethnic communities in the UK. The findings from the 2012 project showed that people from Bangladeshi and Pakistani communities faced the highest risk of not having pension protection across their life course. Working-age persons from Pakistani or Bangladeshi communities were less likely to be members of an occupational pension scheme than people from other minority communities or White British. This meant that as they became older they were less likely to receive a state pension. They were more likely to receive Pension Credit due to their low income.

Professor Vlachantoni commented: "Working with non-academic partners from the beginning has ensured that our research remains relevant and directly addresses questions which policymakers and other stakeholders are interested in."

Posted 01/03/2024 14:36

Back