Over 23 million UK workers are expected to need to work beyond the age of 65 due to cost of living increases and poor financial returns, research from Canada Life has revealed.

This equates to 71 per cent of employees and represents a significant increase from 61 per cent in 2015.

Around 37 per cent of workers believed that they will not be able to retire before the age of 75.

Canada Life Group Insurance marketing director, Paul Avis, said that it is of “little surprise” that UK employees are expecting to work for longer, as living costs and poor returns “continue to exert pressure on employee’s finances”.

He added: “We found well over a third would consider themselves lucky to retire before 75, never mind the fact that over 70% expect to work beyond 65 for the third year in a row.”

The most common reason cited for working beyond the age of 65 was the rising living costs, with 71 per cent of respondents citing it as a factor, followed by rising inflation (63 per cent) and poor returns on savings (62 per cent).

Nearly a third (32 per cent) who plan on retiring after the age of 65 said that they need to continue working die to inadequate pension savings and a quarter do not think they can rely on their state pension in retirement.

Despite this, 30 per cent said that they would continue to work because they enjoyed their job, while 17 per cent said that they will continue to keep receiving employee benefits.

Commenting on the study, The People’s Pension director of policy, Gregg McClymont, said: “While many people want to keep working past retirement age and its critical for the economy that they do, for health reasons some people cannot keep working, especially as state pension age rises.

“This makes starting to save as early and as much as possible even more crucial. The introduction of auto-enrolment has helped 10 million people to start saving for their future, but there are still millions of people missing out, as they’re not eligible for the scheme.”

“The government must provide a timescale to deliver its pledge to lower the eligible age from 22 to 18, make contributions count from the first pound of their pay packet, and ensure lower earners who would benefit from the employer contribution aren’t excluded from the scheme.”

Share Story: