Policies designed to extend working lives increasingly encourage people over 50 to return to employment. Yet relatively little is known about the role of pension considerations in this return, especially for women.

A new Institute for Policy Research policy brief by Dr Helen Kowalewska (University of Bath) draws on interviews with women aged 49–65 to explore experiences of returning to employment later in life and rebuilding retirement security.

The findings reveal that interrupted employment histories, recruitment barriers, unpaid labour, and financial pressure can channel women into low-paid, low-hours, or insecure work that may do little to help them rebuild their private pensions. In these jobs, opportunities to build a workplace pension may be limited or contributions may be unaffordable. Uncertainty around State Pension rules and entitlements can also shape pressures to re-enter and remain in employment.

At the same time, these women are sometimes balancing substantial caring and domestic responsibilities for older relatives as well as teenage and adult children. These responsibilities can narrow the kinds of work they are able to take, often towards flexible and local, but sometimes poorly paid, employment.

Dr Kowalewska calls for later-life employment policies to move beyond simply supporting job entry and focus on sustainable returns that enable women to rebuild retirement security. In the policy brief, she outlines the changes needed to achieve this. These include clearly signposted specialist support from advisers trained to work with individuals with interrupted and non-linear employment histories, continued assistance during the transition back into a new job, and making pension saving affordable for low earners.

On the findings, Dr Kowalewska said: “Much of the debate on longer working lives focuses on helping people remain in employment for longer. Women who are outside the labour market and seeking to return in their 50s and 60s get overlooked. Many of the women I spoke to had limited or uncertain individual pension provision. While women with the smallest pensions can face the greatest pressure to earn again, they have less scope to hold out for secure and well-paid work that could help them rebuild their private pensions. Supporting these women back into sustainable work that makes use of their skills and enables them to rebuild retirement security needs much greater attention.”