Women who are on maternity leave should not make cutbacks on their pension savings, it has been stressed.

Anna Sofat, director of Adiddi Wealth, revealed that many employers will not make contributions during this period, which creates even more of a need for people to save.

"They (employers) do give them information as to carrying on with your pension contributions or you will be scaled back, but the impact of being scaled back isn't often explained," she stressed.

People should be more proactive in finding out how cutbacks are going to affect them, Ms Sofat revealed, emphasising that employers should play an important role in this.

Nonetheless, even if some do seem to be getting a raw deal when it comes to pensions, confidence in them appears to be improving.

A recent study by the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) found that confidence stood at 11 per cent at the end of September, up from seven per cent in March.

Its lowest point was experienced at the end of 2008, according to the NAPF Pensions Confidence Index, with 39 per cent of people now rating pensions more highly than any other type of savings product.

Seven per cent revealed they were keen to increase the amount they invest in pensions, while 84 per cent said they will continue to put similar amounts of money away.

Chief executive Joanne Segars commented: "These are really positive and welcome findings and show just how much workplace pensions matter to people. Without good quality workplace pensions, millions of people would be worse off in retirement."

As many women turn to other business ventures, Ms Sofat believes the priority of putting money into their pensions is set aside.

This, alongside the drop experienced during maternity leave, could leave women without the funds they need for a comfortable retirement unless they find a pensions product which suits their needs.