Almost half (49 per cent) of UK adults have a ‘side hustle’ to bring in extra income, but only 5 per cent of them save any of their additional earnings for retirement, according to PensionBee.

The majority (81 per cent) of those with a side hustle were earning less than £500 a month from the extra work.

The top use of funds (39 per cent) is covering day-to-day living costs, and almost a third (31 per cent) said they used the extra cash to treat themselves.

Just 5 per cent of people said their used their earnings to save for retirement.

A quarter of those asked said they were not saving more because they felt the pension they have with their main job will cover costs.

However, recent figures from the Pensions Commission showed that only 9 per cent of British people will have a comfortable retirement based on current auto-enrolment minimum contributions.

PensionBee vice president personal finance, Maike Currie, said: "For millions of people, a side hustle has become a lifeline against the rising cost of living, but the extra income is too often swallowed up by day-to-day spending or held in places that won't deliver the long-term growth a pension can. This is a missed opportunity for building much-needed retirement wealth.

“Arguably, the most worrying finding is that a quarter of side hustlers believe their workplace pension alone will be enough.

“The reality is that auto-enrolment minimums are not enough to fund a comfortable retirement while millions of 'invisible' workers – including carers and the self-employed – are excluded from the system altogether.”

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