Some 2.8mn people over the age of 50 in the UK have returned to work after being previously retired, research from Legal and General has revealed.
The research found this was despite only 3 per cent of people planning or even considering a return to full-time work after their retirement.
Most of these people, who had not previously returned to work after retiring, were found to be either pursuing part-time or seasonal work.
Legal and General Home Finance CEO and Retail Retirement managing director, Lorna Shah, attributed this phenomenon to “rising living costs” which are “driving people back to work to top up their income”, as the pressure is on to make their money go further.
However, she pointed out that people are not returning to full-time roles so they will likely be topping up the money they make from work with some form of income from their pension pot.
“At Legal and General, we saw sales of fixed-term annuities, which pay a guaranteed retirement income for a selected period of time, more than double last year as customers sought the benefit of a predictable and flexible retirement income,” Lorna added.
“Fixed-term annuities are often used in this way as a bridging option for those looking to boost their finances, while still receiving some form of income from work.”
Additionally, the research detailed people’s reasons for ending their retirement, reporting that over a third of returner workers (37 per cent) found that they needed a greater income following rising living costs.
Meanwhile, 62 per cent said they wanted to stay mentally active and 32 per cent wanted to return to work to give them a sense of purpose.
However, Legal and General pointed out that returner workers face challenges as 24 per cent reported experiencing tiredness, 22 per cent lost out on free time, and 17 per cent found a change in working culture led to difficult
tom.dunstan@ft.com
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