Workers delaying retirement

14/04/11
Retirement

More people are opting to remain in work beyond their retirement age.

Delaying retirement plans has become more widespread amongst British workers.

Almost a fifth of people who are due to retire this year will continue on in work, according to a Prudential survey.

The study of 5,000 people found that 38% of people have cancelled their plans to retire with a fifth blaming insufficient funds for their decision. This marks a rise of 7% from figures recorded a year ago.

Many of those polled said they expect to reach the age of 68 before they take up their pension.

The highest percentage of workers fixed on delaying their retirement plans were those living in the South West with 45% opting to continue working beyond pension age. The lowest percentage of 31% was recorded in Scotland.

Plans to increase the pension age for women to 65 by 2018 have already been announced by the government – by 2020 the pension age for both men and women will rise to 66. Some experts have warned that it may rise further, to the age of 70, by 2052.

Vince Smith-Hughes, head of business development at Prudential said: “The only realistic option for those who want to avoid having to delay their planned retirement is to start saving as much as they can as early as they can. However, as inflation remains high and disposable incomes are reduced, this research shows that people are postponing retirement to either build up their pension pots further or simply to continue in a job that they enjoy”.

The Default Retirement Age was also scrapped this year to prevent employers from forcing staff to retire at 65.