30 SECOND GUIDE: EU gender directive

By Daily Mail Reporters
Updated: 04:29 EST, 8 March 2012

The Daily Mail City team looks at the effects of the latest ruling by the European Union on insurance premiums and pensions pay-outs.

Sounds very PC…It is – some would say absurdly so. Under the existing edict from Brussels, insurance companies have been allowed to discriminate between the sexes when setting insurance premiums and pensions pay-outs – as long as they can justify doing so.

So what? This has meant men have paid more for their motor insurance – largely because younger male drivers are more likely to have a serious crash. The flipside is they receive a bigger pension when they buy an annuity as they have a shorter life expectancy. 

What’s changing: EU bureaucrats have had a change of heart and decided to ban insurers from ‘discriminating’. Critics say this flies in the face of a mountain of evidence which warrants treating men and women differently. This includes the fact men under 22 are ten times more likely than women in the same age group to have a serious crash.

So what does this mean? From December 21, women will have to pay more for their motor insurance. Analysis from Labour estimated women could end up paying an extra £362 a year – around £30 a month. Young men will see their premiums reduce by 9 per cent, according to Treasury analysis. Meanwhile, it is estimated men will receive a cut of up to 13 per cent in their pension. Those already drawing a pension will not be affected.