Women going through a divorce should be given the right to see the size of their husband's pension pot, Age UK has argued.

According to the charity thousands of divorced women are being left worse off in retirement because they are not made aware of their legal entitlement to their husband’s private pension as part of the divorce process.

At present for divorcing couples who settle their finances out of court there is no automatic right to know their spouse’s pension value or requirement that pensions must be split as part of the settlement.

According to research by Scottish Widows seven out of ten couples do not discuss their pensions at all prior to divorce, meaning many women may miss out on substantial sums without realising.

To stop them being short changed Age UK is calling for the Government to change the law so private pensions must be considered as part of the divorce process and, wherever possible, divided fairly between spouses.