Brits working themselves into the grave, say studies

Around half a million people will never retire, while a similar number are worried about their pensions, according to new studies.

A survey of 1,300 adults by NFU Mutual found two out of five over 65-year-olds still in employment believe they will never stop working.

Another report by professional services firm Towers Watson revealed concerns about how much money they will have in retirement.

Most of the 2,500 British workers questioned said retirement security had become a higher priority over the past three years, especially among those aged over 40.

Workers in the UK were more pessimistic than in the United States, France or Germany.

Tess Wishart, of Towers Watson, said: "In our experience, we have never seen such an awareness and concern for retirement provisions from the workforce.

"People are clearly worried and by the same token any Government initiative that impacts on pay can be very emotive."

The NFU Mutual report said over half of those planning to delay their retirement blamed a lack of savings.

Spokesman Steven Meredith said: "Not everyone wants to give up work completely when they reach the retirement age, nor should we expect them to.

"What's important is that people have the choice to retire if they want to. Unfortunately this study shows that for growing numbers, retirement might not be one option they can afford to take."

A Department for Work and Pensions spokesman said: "The good news is more of us are living longer. This means people are going to have to work beyond the traditional retirement age if they are to afford a good quality of life in retirement, and that's why the state pension age will rise over the coming years for men and for women.

"We are also helping to encourage more people to put something aside for the future, by automatically enrolling eligible people into a workplace pension.

"The Government's major new advertising campaign is helping to raise awareness, and employers have a responsibility to inform staff of this major change.

"With many more organisations coming on stream between now and 2018, we expect to see plenty of innovative and imaginative examples of employee engagement."