Whilst starting a family comes with many joys, there are also big sacrifices – with mothers often having to abandon saving for the future to deal with the immediate cost of childcare.

Jessica Tabaka, 38, is one such mother who is not sure how she’ll ever build up enough money to retire, having only got saved £29,000 so far in her pension.

“Pensions are a luxury rather than a necessity when you’re thinking about childcare and the costs of living for today,” she said.

The mum-of-three says childcare commitments meant she has earned a “pathetically low” salary, so her pension contributions have always been low or non-existent.

Jessica, who lives in south London, is married to Bart, a product manager, and has children Theo, eight, Felix, six and Sofia, three over which time she took as long as she could on each maternity leave as she said “there was no financial incentive in returning earlier”.

“I have always been in creative fields – I studied fashion and worked for Paul Smith for 10 years,” she explained.

“I was on a low salary as creative jobs don’t pay a lot of money. When I went back to work after having Felix, even with my mum helping out with childcare one day a week, and me looking after them one day, I could only just afford to send them to childcare three days a week.

“Even then, my entire salary was wiped out by childcare costs. At that time, there weren’t the extended free childcare hours and you only got them after your child turned three, so it did not make any sense to go back earlier than you needed to.”

Jessica is not the only one. A recent YouGov survey found that 42 per cent of mothers on low and middle incomes said they had little or no choice to reduce their pension incomes because of childcare responsibilities. 

The highest salary Jessica earned at Paul Smith was £28,000 and when she re-trained, to work at an interior design company, she was on £24,000.

“When I was working for these companies, although I was contributing to a pension through employer schemes, I wasn’t able to max out my contributions. I was just putting the bare minimum in and the employer was too.”

Jessica started her own interior design company two years ago and has only just started paying £50 a month from her business into her pension pot, which now has £29,000 in.

“Life is so expensive and childcare is so expensive. Everyone feels panicky about pensions, but no one knows what to do about it. Pensions are low down on the list of priorities because it is so far away in the future.

“I am hoping I can increase my pension contributions over time. But the future feels very uncertain.”

Little or no choice

Campaign group Pregnant Then Screwed says mothers are sacrificing their pension savings because of childcare responsibilities, contributing to a gender pay gap which leaves women with an average of 33 per cent less pension wealth than men.

Throughout their working lives, women are more likely to work part-time or make career compromises to care for children.

The data shows that 36 per cent have reduced their working hours because of childcare, while 28 per cent had taken time out of work after having children. Some 18 per cent said they were having to prioritise childcare costs over pension saving.

Rachel Grocott, CEO of Pregnant Then Screwed said: “Women live longer, yet they also make up most of the pensioners who are living in poverty.

“This is a huge kick in the teeth on mums for simply doing the right thing for their family.”

Single parenting makes pension saving even harder

Agnes Agyepong, 41, is a single mum of three children, with a 14-year-old daughter and sons aged nine and eight.

Agnes, who lives in south London, paid into a workplace pension when she was employed. However, when she moved into freelance and self employed work, those contributions stopped.

She now runs a social enterprise called Global Child and Maternal Health and is currently looking at starting paying into a pension again.

“Between raising three children, earning enough to support my family and eventually building my own organisation, there simply wasn’t enough money to put towards a pension,” she said. “And if I’m honest, I didn’t fully understand the long term implications at the time.

“I’ve spent years advocating for others, building programmes and creating opportunities, but somewhere along the way, my own financial future took a back seat. 

“I’m now trying to address that, but I do wonder what those years without contributions will mean when I’m older.

“I think that’s the reality for so many mothers. We’re doing everything we can to provide for our families today, often at the expense of our own security tomorrow.”

Agnes says she is the primary sole carer for her children and gets no financial contributions. “I have been a single parent for a lot of my children’s life, so before I could even think about pensions and the future, I had to look at the immediate moment, putting food on the table and heating the home.

“I worked in recruitment for many years and left employed work to have flexibility with my children as freelance and self employed work fit in better. But then your pension takes a hit as you don’t get employer contributions.

“Pensions are even harder when you are a single parent because your priority is the needs of your children, keeping a roof over your head – and even trying to have some sanity for yourself.”

Agnes now runs her community interest company (CIC) and is in the process of setting up her pension. She says she has a few different pension pots from her employed days, but they will only total a few thousand pounds.

“Thinking about the future is a luxury when you are a mum – and the system doesn’t allow it – especially if you are a single parent.

“I am in a much better position now, but it is still going to be an uphill struggle to make up for my pension.”

Rebecca Horne, head of campaigns at Pregnant Then Screwed, said: “Mums are so used to putting up with the extortionate costs of motherhood in the UK that pensions just fall onto the list as an unattainable luxury.

“The kids come first and mums are falling on the pension sword for the family as a result. 

“Mums aren’t to blame; the system is set up to reward consistent full-time careers, which means mums have no choice but to cut back and reduce their payments and their careers around parenting.

“We need to recognise the pension penalty that comes with being a mum, and mums need to understand it isn’t their fault, but it’s also never too late to seek help.”