Self-employed workers miss out on £91,512 over their working lives through lack of employer contributions into a company pension scheme.
On average, UK workers receive employer contributions of £2,232 a year and contribute £945 themselves, making a total of £3,177 annually.
Those working in public administration and defence received the most employer contributions of £4,439 per year, 15 per cent of their salary.
Over a working life of 41 years, employer contributions, which self-employed workers miss out on, total £91,512.
The firm, a corporate member of the Institute of Financial Planning, also found 46 per cent of self-employed workers had no private pension savings.
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Some respondents planned to draw on other sources of income in retirement but 29 per cent expected to rely exclusively on the State Pension.
Stan Russell, retirement expert at Prudential, said: "Self-employed workers have to be proactive when it comes to saving for retirement, as they can't benefit from employer contributions in a company pension scheme.
"We know from our research that a significant proportion of self-employed workers have no private pension and will rely solely on the State Pension in retirement. Often this is because they have prioritised the needs of their business over saving into a pension. However, the State Pension alone is not enough for a good standard of living in retirement."

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