The report says that 1 in 10 men on track to achieve their ambitions but only 1 in 20 women are close to being ready. Men will on average fall £35,000 per year short of their expected retirement, almost three times the £12,665 women are set to be deficient.
Men are more likely to check up on their savings and 1 in 3 have reviewed them in the past six months compared to only 1 in 4 women.
The report is from Aegon which has launched Retiready, a digital service aimed at helping people 'transform' the way they get ready for retirement.
The report warns that women are also significantly "less engaged" with their pension. Almost half (46 per cent) have never checked the performance of their savings, compared to one in three for men (36 per cent) who are also much more likely to check their pot more regularly.
Retiready is a service that demonstrates how adjustments to pension contributions, planning and money management can make a big difference.
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A key part of Retiready is its readiness score, which provides a mark out of 100, giving people an indication of their readiness for retirement. Ahead of the launch of Retiready, Aegon surveyed 2,000 men and 2,000 women, asking questions about their behaviour, awareness and finances to assess their readiness score.
Across the UK men achieved an average score of 54, higher than the 50 received by women, and twice as many men are on track to reach their goals as women (10 per cent vs. 5 per cent). However beneath these figures runs a vital message for the UK public: at least 9 in 10 are set to fall significantly short of their retirement ambitions, failing to score 70 across the three criteria behaviour, awareness and finances.
Aegon says that the shortfall in financial preparations in women could be explained by a lower average salary, leading to average pension contributions of £175 each month, nearly half the £328 put away by men, but the report also worryingly finds that women's awareness of how to how to improve their financial position is also wanting. Only a tiny three per cent received an awareness score that suggests they know how to plug this shortfall, compared to an almost equally shocking five per cent for men.
Interestingly, women are contributing more to Isa than men, £183 against only £127.