Most workers in the UK expect to be working part-time after reaching the age of 66, according to a retirement study.
A recent study conducted by Fidelity International found that 52% of workers expected to continue working past the age of 66 doing part time work, and another 45% expected to be working past the age of 70. 10% even planned to continue working into their 80s.
A poll by Scottish Widows found that 18% of workers expecting to work into their mid-60s would be doing so out of necessity rather than choice.
Only 24% of respondents expect to be in a position to retire when they hit the age of 65, while 39% feared running out of money in retirement.
45% of workers are failing to save the recommended 12% of their salary towards retirement each year. Data from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) showed 19.2 million people were contributing to a workplace scheme in 2019, a 2.6% increase from 18.7m people in 2018.
Since the coronavirus pandemic started in March 2020, 16% of workers have admitted that they are planning to reduce the amount they save into pensions due to the increased pressure for short term needs, making the numbers of those working past state pension age more likely to increase.
Stephen Webb, former pensions minister and director of policy at Royal London said:
“It’s important not to forget the large numbers of people who expect to work on, not because they want to, but because they have to.
A growing number of people will reach retirement without enough pension saving for a comfortable retirement and they may have to go on working long past the point when they would have wanted to stop.”
Robert Cochran, retirement expert at Scottish Widows, said:
“While the idea of people around the age of 60 to 65 giving up work once and for all has been disappearing in recent years, our research shows this is a necessity rather than a choice for many.
Auto-enrolment has been a great success and the increase in minimum contributions should mean more people have valuable pension funds to live off as they approach later life.
With life expectancy expected to continue rising, it’s worthwhile remembering that saving for the future doesn’t need to stop at retirement age.”
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