Expat women facing larger pension gap need to be more empowered

Women, whether they've stayed in the UK, moved abroad as expats, or relocated to support a partner's career, need to be far more empowered to take practical control of their financial futures. The good news is that, in many cases, the fix is relatively inexpensive but remains badly underused.

Let's start with the gap itself. The widely cited 35-40% gender pension gap may, if anything, be a little conservative. Government data suggests it's materially wider for many cohorts of women approaching retirement, and wider still when you account for women with no private pension provision at all. For expat women, I'd expect the figure to be larger again, though robust expat-specific data simply doesn't exist yet.

That's the first problem: it's not just the State Pension that suffers when a woman steps back from work. The bigger, more subtle loss is the missing workplace pension years and the absence of any pension in her own name at all. Household wealth ends up concentrated in the working partner's hands, which is fine until divorce, or until something happens to that partner.

For UK residents living overseas, one of the most powerful tools available is voluntary National Insurance contributions. Crucially, this isn't automatic. It must be applied for via form CF83, and it applies to both partners individually. A husband working abroad doesn't pass on NI credits to a non-working spouse; she must opt in herself.

And the rules have just become far less generous. Until April 2026, many expats could pay voluntary Class 2 contributions at roughly £3.95 a week, that’s under £200 a year, for a full year of credit. That route has now closed. For most new applicants, Class 3 will now be the relevant route, at around £980 a year, and new applicants generally face a ten-year UK residence or contribution test. It's a significant jump in cost, but it remains well worth doing. You simply have to take the initiative, because nobody else will do it for you.

Then there's the question of what happens overseas. Many relocation packages are thorough about visas, housing, and employment contracts, but rarely look at the accompanying spouse's pension position. That's a real missed opportunity for employers managing international moves; it would cost very little to flag, and it could make a meaningful difference to that spouse's long-term security.

It's also worth noting that pension systems vary enormously by country, which makes comparison difficult. In Australia, superannuation is compulsory for employees; in Hong Kong, it's the Mandatory Provident Fund. In both cases, the working spouse builds up a compulsory pot while the non-working spouse, often the one who's relocated to support their partner's career, builds up nothing. There's plenty of UK-specific data on the gender pension gap, but very little comparing outcomes for expat couples, so it's genuinely hard to say whether the picture abroad is similar or worse.

Then there's divorce where geography matters enormously. UK pension sharing orders don't automatically bind overseas pension schemes, and the country in which a couple divorces can transform the outcome entirely. England's family courts are comparatively generous when it comes to pensions: if a wife has been the primary caregiver and her husband has built a substantial pension, that pot will normally be considered and shared fairly. But couples who have settled abroad for many years, with children raised there and no intention of returning, may find themselves divorcing under local law instead, and many jurisdictions don't treat pensions as shareable assets at all.

None of this is easy to plan for, because nobody plans to get divorced. The protective steps are unglamorous, practical and entirely within reach: building assets and retirement savings in her own name, maintaining National Insurance contributions where appropriate, and ensuring retirement savings continue, whether through a UK personal pension where eligibility and contribution rules allow or through appropriate retirement savings arrangements in the country of residence. Taken together, these measures can help reduce financial dependency and improve long-term financial security.

Jessica Cook is a financial adviser at Hoxton Wealth