More than two million people aged 66 or older are working, sparking fears that many feel they cannot afford to retire.
There are 1.56 million over-66s on company payrolls, up 12 per cent from the 1.39 million in the 2020-21 tax year. A further 562,000 continue to do some form of self-employed work, up 8 per cent from 519,000 five years ago.
In total, 2.12 million aged 66 or over are in either full or part-time work, according to 2024-25 data from HM Revenue & Customs. The figures, first reported by The Telegraph, were obtained through a freedom of information request by the employment law firm Littler.
Many older people find roles completely unrelated to their previous careers
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More than 13 million claim the state pension. Men and women can start claiming it once they reach 66, although this age is to start increasing this year and will hit 67 by 2028. Another rise is planned to 68 by 2046 at the latest. Women could claim their state pension at 60 until 2010 when it began to rise to reach parity with men. By 2018 state pension age was 65 for both sexes and the phased increase to 66 began in 2020.
From April the full new state pension will go up from £230.25 to £241.30 a week — £12,547 a year.
Dennis Reed from the campaign group Silver Voices, which represents the over-60s, said many older people had to work to supplement their pension income. “The state pension is insufficient to meet everyday needs,” he said. “More and more people are being forced into work, if they are physically capable.”
He said that older people often took jobs that were very different to their former careers. This could be because it is harder to find work when you are older.
“It is often menial or manual work, in order to live with some semblance of dignity in their retirements. The retail sector is one where we often see people working,” Reed said.
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Anyone who wants to carry on working at 66 can defer their state pension. When they come to claim it they can take the extra deferred money as a one-off payment or use it to boost their regular income. Every nine weeks they defer can boost state pension payments by 1 per cent, amounting to a 5.8 per cent boost in a year.
Pensioners who continue to work past state pension age get more take-home pay because they no longer make national insurance contributions. There have been calls to reconsider this policy, which cost the Treasury £1.1 billion in 2024.