TWO million women face the prospect of poverty in old age because they are failing to accrue a state pension, it has emerged.

The women are either not working, often because they have taken a career break to care for children or elderly relatives, or they are earning too little to contribute towards the state scheme, according to the Department For Work And pensions.

The DWP is due to publish a report tomorrow setting out the lack of pension provision faced by millions of women.

It will also show that women receive an average of between £50 and £100 a week less than men from occupational or personal pensions, while they are also 20 per cent less likely than men to have saved towards a good private pension.

Charity Age Concern said the report was a "crucial opportunity" to tackle the inequalities faced by millions of women during retirement.

It said one in five single female pensioners in the UK currently lived in poverty, and just 16 per cent of newly retired women qualified for a full basic state pension on their own contributions, compared with 78 per cent of men.

It said: "The state pension system, designed in the 1940s, has not kept pace with the changing lives of women.

"Injustice is deep-rooted. Low paid women are excluded from building up a state pension simply because they earn too little, pensioners are living in poverty because they have taken time out of paid work to care for their family, thousands of women are paying into a system that doesn't pay out in return.

The charity is calling on the Government to reduce the number of years people need to have worked for to qualify for a full state pension.

It said if this was cut from 40 years to 25 years, the majority of women would be entitled to the full state pension.