Forty-seven per cent of Gen Z are planning on moving to part-time work as they approach retirement in a bid to boost their retirement savings, research by Standard Life has indicated.

In a survey of 6,350 UK adults, conducted by Boxclever, 22% of Gen Z respondents said they will move to self-employment and set up their own business in the run up to retirement, to add more to their pension savings.

Standard Life said that with people living longer, as well as a trend in workers moving away from having a job for life, could mean that many people end up working for longer.

However, over three quarters (76%) of current retirees stopped working entirely when they began their retirement, rather than phasing into it. Meanwhile, 17% moved to part-time work, and just 3% set up their own business before fully retiring.

Managing director for retail at Standard Life, Dean Butler, said: "Younger generations are looking at retirement in a very different way and see it as more of a phased run-in to eventually stopping work.

"While their attitudes may change over time, this pattern makes a lot of sense given longer lives and changes in working habits. It does of course come with its own challenges and relies both on people finding the right employment opportunities and being in good enough health to take advantage of them."

Standard Life added that as younger generations plan for a more phased approach to retirement, reducing working hours for a few years once reaching retirement age could significantly boost total pension pots.

Butler added: "If you’re able to continue working and not touch your pension for a number of years the effects of further contributions and compound investment growth can really add up. It’s relatively common now for people to access other forms of savings such as ISAs before touching their pensions and while that won’t be practical for everyone, these tops up as people phase into retirement could really boost their pensions."

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