- In 2025 there were 105,002 divorces in England and Wales, and 959 civil partnership dissolutions (source: Divorces and dissolutions in England and Wales: 2024 and 2025 – ONS)
- This is up just 0.3% from a year earlier, and down 25% from 20 years earlier, having peaked in 1993
- The divorce rate was 8.4 per thousand in 2025 – similar to the rate for the past decade
- The average divorce came 13 years after marriage among opposite sex couples – the longest this measure has been since records started in 1963
- Among couples who married in 2015, 16% had divorced before reaching their 10th wedding anniversary, while 35% of those married in 2005 had divorced by their 20th anniversary – compared with 10% and 22% respectively among those who married in 1965
- Why divorce is a pensions issue
Sarah Coles, head of personal finance at AJ Bell, comments:
“The number of divorces has been trending down over the past 30 years from a peak of just over 165,000 in 1993 to 105,002 in 2025. It means fewer people facing the emotional and financial upheaval of a divorce with each passing year. However, for those couples who do end up getting divorced, the problems can be more complicated, because the length of time people are married before the split has also been trending up, from a low of 8.9 years in 1985 to 13 years today.
“While in 2025 the divorce rate was just 8.4 per thousand, cumulatively the risk of divorce rises as time goes on. Over a third (35%) of people who reached the 20th anniversary of their wedding day in 2025 had divorced. That means a huge chunk of people face the risk of divorce over the long term, so they need to understand the impact on their finances, particularly their pension.
Why divorce is a pensions issue
“The marriages that end in divorce are getting longer, so there’s more chance that the couple have built for the future on the assumption they would be retiring together. In many cases, one of them will hold the majority of pension assets, often the man in heterosexual relationships. New research from the Pensions Policy Institute (PPI) shows women aged 55 to 59 have around half (54%) the pension wealth of men of the same age on average.
“Anyone going through a divorce needs to consider their pension carefully, but for those married for longer and divorcing later, it’s particularly essential because there’s less time for them to rebuild.
“There’s a risk the pension is overlooked entirely. Research has shown that 60% of women going through a split don’t discuss pensions during divorce, in some cases because they don’t know they can share a pension and in others because they don’t have any idea of the value tied up in it. After any family home, it’s often the most valuable asset held by the couple so it’s essential it’s included in any settlement. Pensions are also often held entirely in one person’s name, so if they are overlooked, the other person can miss out entirely.
How pensions are split
“There are broadly three ways pensions are treated on divorce: offsetting, pension sharing orders and pension attachment orders.
- Offsetting
“The most common approach is offsetting, where the couple trade off various assets when reaching a settlement. In some cases, one of them will take the pension and the other will have the equity in the family home, for example. It appeals to couples as a solution because it feels relatively uncomplicated, and it means you can have a clean break. However, you need to understand exactly what you’re giving up.
“In many cases, one half of the couple is determined to stay in the family home, often because they retain the majority of caring responsibilities for their children, and they don’t want them to face more upheaval than they have to. However, if they do so at the expense of all the pensions held by the couple, they will have to rebuild from scratch. Depending on their age it can mean they retire with all the expenses of running and maintaining a property, with far too little income to cover the cost.
“It’s why anyone who uses this approach needs to focus on their pension as early as possible after the split. They will often need to rebuild in all sorts of areas of their finances, and may be doing it on a single income, so it’s easier said than done. However, it’s worth putting aside whatever you can afford, and then revisiting it twice a year to see whether you are in a position to boost contributions.
“If you were to put away £200 a month – matched by your employer – between the ages of 50 and 67, you could build a pot worth £93,000, and boost your retirement income by £7,000 a year, which could make a real difference to your quality of life.
- Pension sharing order
“Alternatively, you can share the pension through a pension sharing order. This is a clean break, and has the advantage that nobody has to start again from zero. However, it can be complicated and requires a court order, which can put people off.
“How you divide the pensions will depend on whether they are defined benefit pensions, in which case you’re aiming for equality of income, or defined contribution pensions, in which case you are aiming for equality of assets. It can be a good investment to get an independent valuation of a defined benefit pension, so you can be certain your division is fair.
- Pension attachment order
“Some couples will opt for a pension attachment order, where the pension continues to be held by one member of the couple, but the income payments in retirement are split. It means nobody needs to start all over again with pension saving, but needs a court order and it isn’t a clean break. The income is all taxed as belonging to the person holding the pension, and they can control when they take their pension, so they can delay when their ex-partner gets an income. The shortcomings of this approach mean it’s not widely used.”
