Starting a family is when women's pensions typically start to lag behind their male colleagues' funds.

If you can stop your pension savings coming unstuck when you go on maternity leave, you are much more likely to keep up in later life and retire with a decent income.

Some good news lately is the gender gap has now shrunk to 1 per cent for the state pension, which pays £12,000 a year at the current full rate.

You should end up on the maximum sum as long as you pay enough National Insurance, or get credits to cover years spent caring for children or other family members, before you reach state pension age.

But the achievement of virtual parity in state pensions stands in stark contrast with private pensions.

Here, there is a staggering 48 per cent gender divide in the run-up to retirement, according to recent official data. 

So, how do you prevent your savings starting to significantly diverge from men's during maternity leave, and dropping that far behind by the time you retire.

How to protect your pension when you start a family

Pension contributions are deducted as a percentage of your salary. So, lower pay can hamper any women's ability to save into their pension, never mind the impact of taking maternity leave or going part-time to care for a family.

It is therefore worth pursuing wage increases throughout your working life to ensure you are paid on a par with male colleagues doing the same work. Check our guide to successfully asking for a pay rise.

When you have children, you also need to ask some key questions of your pension scheme about your contributions and those of your employer during maternity leave - see below for more detail.

But broadly speaking, you or your partner, or both of you combined, should try to maintain your contributions during your leave, and if necessary put in extra either just before or afterwards.

You can try to keep your contributions at this higher rate if you work part-time after starting a family.

One way to do this is to take advantage of any extra 'matched' pension contributions from your employer, if they offer more than the minimum required under auto-enrolment. It is worth checking their policy as many do this as a way to attract and retain staff.

If you can keep building your pension pot to a decent size, the power of compound investment growth should boost it further and set you up for a comfortable retirement.

For couples, it is sensible to take a joint approach to maximising both your pensions throughout your working life, including during maternity leave. There are some tax pitfalls to beware of if you do this though, which you can check in our guide about couples and pensions.

Putting up a united front when handling your finances means you are more likely to enjoy a richer retirement together. 

And, if you unfortunately split up but your pension pots aren't wildly unbalanced, there should be less hassle and hostility over dividing them.

'When it comes to retirement, women are still losing out, by tens of thousands of pounds,' says Lou Davey, head of policy at pension trustee firm Independent Governance Group.

'Taking time off work to raise children or switching to part-time hours often leads to missed pension contributions, which can quietly chip away at your retirement savings.

'Add in the fact that women live longer on average, and the result is simple: women can end up with smaller pension pots that need to last longer.'

Davey says employers have legal duties to help soften the impact of maternity leave on your pension savings, but you do need to give the issue some attention, as you should your pay and job role.

What expectant mothers should check before going on maternity leave

You need to check your pension contributions will be paid correctly during the different periods of statutory maternity pay and unpaid leave.

Some employers are more generous than the statutory rules, others stick to the letter of them, and some might make errors - so you need to check the specific terms of your own scheme.

To receive statutory maternity pay you need to have worked for your employer for 26 weeks when you are at the 15th week before your due date, and to earn at least £125 a week.

- First six weeks: 90 per cent of your average weekly earnings (before tax)

- Next 33 weeks: £187.18 a week or 90 per cent of your average weekly earnings (whichever is lower)

- Next 13 weeks: Unpaid

But as regards pensions, if you are auto-enrolled then for much of the time your contributions will be based on your ACTUAL pay. Meanwhile, your employer's pension contributions will be based on your FULL pay, including any pay rises during maternity leave. See below for details.

Camilla Esmund, a senior manager at Interactive Investor, says: 'Your own pension contributions are based on your reduced maternity pay. Your employer’s pension contributions are based on your full salary, before you go on maternity leave.

'If you stop paying into your pension, then your employer can also stop its contributions. Your employer can opt to stop pension contributions after 39 weeks as the time between 39 to 52 weeks is unpaid.'

She goes on: 'The rules are supposed to ensure women still get a full pension payment even while their pay is reduced, but in some cases, it seems this isn’t happening, so it is important that women check.

'It appears that some employers unintentionally base pension contributions on statutory maternity pay (£187 per week after the first 6 weeks from April 2025) rather than an employee’s full salary. Women need to check their pay slips and speak to their employer’s HR department to ensure they don’t miss out.'

Here is what to ask your employer. Be prepared to ask follow-ups if you don't get a full picture initially.

1. How much must I pay each month in employee contributions - and what happens if I stop paying in?

2. What employer pension contributions will I receive, and is this based on my FULL pay before maternity leave?

3. Will I keep getting employer pension contributions during any unpaid leave?

4. Can I get a statement or forecast showing how maternity leave could affect my pension?

5. Are there any deadlines I need to know about?

6. Can I increase my pension contributions either before or after maternity leave, and will you match them?

7. Can I make a one-off top-up to my pension to cover any gap, and if so how and who do I contact?

8. Are there options to keep building up my pension at the same rate if I work fewer hours in future?

Lou Davey at IGG says: 'Don’t assume everything is taken care of automatically. If you don’t ask, you might miss out, and the effects could last decades.

'By asking the right questions and taking the right actions, you can take control and better protect your financial future.'

Davey stresses that even small extra contributions made early can go a long way.

'Thanks to compound investment growth, money paid in now has more time to grow, so it can make a bigger difference by the time you retire.'

> What about paternity leave and pay? Find out the rules here 

Claim child benefit even if you don't qualify for payments

There is a little-known but crucial connection between claiming child benefit and how much state pension you could receive decades from now.

Being registered for child benefit means you will receive valuable free credits that go on your state pension record.

These will fill any gaps when you are caring for family, rather than in employment and making National Insurance contributions towards your state pension, between the birth of your child and when they are 12

It is therefore important to fill in the child benefit form even if your household earnings mean you don't qualify to receive the actual payments.

You can tick a box asking for 'credits only' to avoid the hassle of having to fill in a tax return so HMRC takes back the child benefit back later

Many parents unwittingly missed out on these credits after child benefit was withdrawn for households with higher incomes from 2013, and claims slumped as a result.

But after shunning their pleas for years, the last Government eventually relented and promised to let them repair state pension records by creating a new credit they can apply for from April 2026.

The current Government has confirmed it will to go ahead with this state pension fix but no details are available yet.

New parents should swerve this problem by registering for child benefit, as explained above.

Also, make sure the parent who fills in the form to claim child benefit is the one who is taking time off work and therefore not making National Insurance contributions via their employer.

This might be a father or a mother, and you can switch who is registered to receive the child benefit if whoever needs the credits changes over time.

If the 'wrong' parent has claimed by mistake in the past, you can swap state pension credits later. Use form CF411a for years from 6 April 2010 and CF411 for years before that.

If you apply to swap credits and are turned down, contact This is Money as we will try to help. Email: [email protected].

Returning to work after having a baby

You will need to keep on top of pension contributions to make up any gaps during maternity leave, and try to maintain them afterwards even if you go part-time, as far as this is affordable.

Laura Suter, head of personal finance at AJ Bell, gives the following tips.

Work out any shortfall during maternity leave

Your personal contribution will be based on your statutory maternity pay, she writes. So you'll need to do the maths to work out how much that amounts to and what pension gap it leaves you with.

You need to work out how long your final period of unpaid leave will be, where you are getting zero pension contributions, and what the pension shortfall is during that time.

Make up the missing contributions

You have three options if you want to cover the gap: increase your pension contributions before you go on maternity leave; increase them when you return to work; or a combination of the two.

Some companies will only allow you to change your pension contribution percentage once a year or at certain life events – and having a child is usually one.

Depending on their rules that might force you into only boosting contributions when you return to work.

Pay in a lump sum or increase monthly contributions

This depends on a couple of factors. First: your employer's matching rules. If you're not exhausting all the employer matching at the moment then you're better off increasing your monthly contribution as your employer will add more to your pension too.

The next factor is whether you pay into your pension by salary sacrifice.

If you do then your pension contributions are effectively taken before any tax or National Insurance is paid, which saves you more money than if you just paid in a lump sum and reclaimed the tax.

Don't forget holiday pay

Because you accrue holiday and bank holidays during maternity leave, lots of women take this at the end of their leave, to reduce the period where they are unpaid.

During this period you will have effectively returned to work for payroll purposes, so your pension contributions will return to normal. This can help to reduce the pension gap.

Going part-time

If you decide to return to work part-time, or on fewer hours than you currently work, that will have a big impact on your pension contributions.

If you want to maintain your pension you'll need to significantly increase your percentage contribution to compensate for your lower salary.