Women can get 12% more retirement income than last year By Adam Uren Women buying an annuity can get a retirement income 12 per cent higher now than before 'gender neutral' pricing was introduced just under a year ago. Annuity rates have been on the rise since the turn of the year as a result of improved investment returns on the bonds and gilts that underpin them, but it is women who have benefited most thanksto EU rules introduced last December. These gender equality rules meant insurance companies are not allowed to discriminate because of sex when offering to convert pensions into annuity incomes. In the money: Women can get 12 per cent more when they exchange their pension pot for an annuity compared to last year. Prior to the rules coming into force, men would typically get offered more income from an annuity, which reflected the fact they have a shorter life expectancy than women. But once the EU rules were brought in this could no longer be taken into account, meaning women's rates rose and men's fell as the prices equalised. Improvement in investment returns and the EU gender directive has seen the amount a woman would get from a £50,000 pension pot rise by 12 per cent in the last 10 months, up from £2,726 in November 2012 to £3,053 last month. Men have also benefited from improving rates, though their rise is smaller, increasing from £2,823 to £3,053 last month, a rise of 8 per cent. David Miller, of financial services technology firm Avelo, which put together the figures, said: 'While annuity incomes are by no means sky-high, they have been boosted for men and women since gender equality day. Improving gilt and bond yields combined with a very competitive market have helped make the difference. The increase in annuity incomes compared to last year is even more pronounced when it comes to enhanced annuities, which provide a bigger payout as they take into account medical conditions and lifestyle choices that could shorten your life. Avelo found that female smokers could get an enhanced annuity worth £3,483-a-year from a £50,000 pot today, a 15 per cent rise on the £3,041 they could have got last year. Male smokers meanwhile, have seen a 11 per cent rise in rates, from £3,147 to £3,483.