Substantial numbers of baby boomers, especially lower and middle earners, are expecting to work past state pension age, while those who have experienced the most financial hardship throughout their lives are approaching retirement in poorer health and are the most likely to report that they are unable to save.

New research from the Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS) shows the generation born in the later 1950s to be divided in their prospects for later life, with a majority expecting to keep on working into their 60's, and a considerable proportion (35 per cent of men and 26 per cent of women) thinking it more likely than not that they would still be working past 66.

By contrast, a significant minority have already left the labour market, particularly for reasons of poor health.

The research was funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, and used data from the National Child Development Study, which for nearly 60 years has been following a group of more than 17,000 people born in the same week in March 1958.

More than four in ten of the cohort have had some experience of poverty across their working lifetime, and by their mid-50s those who had been persistently poor (around one in ten) were multiply disadvantaged. The research found the poorest were most likely to say retirement is too far off to worry about and few had paid into a pension.

Those who were still working in their mid-50s, but in low earning jobs, were among the most likely to report expecting to be working into their 60s and beyond the state pension age.

CLS director Alissa Goodman said: “While most people told us they expected to be working into later life, poor health had already forced some people to give up their jobs by the time they had reached their mid-50s.

"We need to look at how we help people, particularly those who have experienced disadvantage in their lives, to stay healthy and in work for longer. And this needs to start early, not as people reach late middle age. With another increase in the state pension age in the future, this is more important than ever.”

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