Not everyone will welcome the opportunity to work longer, despite the Government’s proposals to extend the retirement age beyond 65, finds Scottish Widows.

Following the Government's announcement that the review of the default retirement age is being brought forward, research from Scottish Widows' UK Pensions Report reveals that not everyone would welcome the opportunity to work longer.

On average people would like to retire at 61 and the average age that people would actually be angry if they still had to work is 66.

Alison Morris, senior manager, retirement income and planning, Scottish Widows, says, ‘While there are many people that would like, or may need, the flexibility to work past the age of 65, the majority of people continue to hope to retire earlier, on average at age 61.’

Morris argues that the real issue that needs to be tackled is ensuring that the nation saves adequately for their retirement so that they have the option to retire when they want to rather than being forced to work longer.  

She adds, ‘Our research found that 19 per cent of those people that could, and should, be saving are not saving at all and the over 50s are most likely to have cut their savings. An alarming 21 per cent saved less in the past 12 months than they did in the 12 months prior to that, which is worrying considering that they should be focused on planning for retirement rather than cutting back.  

‘We support the proposed changes to state retirement age as this will increase people's options when planning for retirement but do think there will be those that simply won't work past a certain age.’