A quarter (24%) of UK adults have said they expect to keep working past the state pension age, Phoenix Insights has found.

Phoenix Group’s longevity think tank said there is a "huge difference" in perceptions around how people have retired in the past and what this could look like in future decades.

A ‘hard stop’ or ‘transitional’ retirement is seen as the most prominent way people have moved into retirement in the past 50 years, according to the firm, but it expects this to dwindle “significantly” in the future, with just 15% of UK adults expecting that this will represent most people’s experience in the next 10-25 years.

Phoenix Insights found that the biggest change between retirement perceptions in the past and the future is a large, anticipated increase in people never retiring because they want or need to keep working.

Two in five (41%) UK adults expect this to be the norm in the next 10-25 years, up from 13% in the past.

Phoenix Insights also explored the hopes compared to expectations of moving to retirement. Although just 9% said they hope to keep working when nearing retirement age, a quarter (24%) said they expect to keep working.

In comparison, over two in five (44%) hope for a hard stop and almost half (47%) hope for a period of transition, while 30% and 46% expect a hard stop and period of transition respectively.

Only half (52%) of those who have to retire who are hoping for a hard stop realistically expect to achieve this, and one in five (19%) of this group think they will actually have to keep working.

Head of public engagement and campaigns for Phoenix Insights at Phoenix Group, Catherine Sermon, said: "The idea of a ‘hard stop’ retirement has long been superseded by people looking to reduce their working hours and gradually transitioning into retirement, many working part-time while drawing on some of their pension to supplement income. Moving forward, however, while a gradual transition into retirement is expected to remain popular, our research suggests a sea change is looming, with a significant rise in people anticipating they will carry on working throughout their life.

"It’s vital that this changing approach to retirement is matched by how people are supported in work and saving throughout their life. There will need to be more flexibility so people who want or need to remain in work for longer are able to do so. This should go hand-in-hand with policy change to help people save more. Millions of adults are off track and not saving enough to provide the retirement income they expect and may end up delaying their retirement plans as a result. Increasing the minimum auto enrolment contribution rate being made into workplace pension should be a high priority in the next Parliament to help close some of pension savings gap."

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