The national accounts director for pension and investment planning technology provider Selectapension said the figures demonstrated a shift to a more fluid retirement age, as people continued working into their late 60s and early 70s.
Labour market statistics compiled between February and April this year revealed that older workers were the fastest growing portion of the labour market, making up 9.5 per cent of the total workforce, or 1m.
Mr Bradshaw said: “We are witnessing the end of the ‘at-retirement’ age as more people take a phased retirement approach and therefore stagger drawing a pension when they hit their 60s, and may postpone buying an annuity until later on.
“As more people over 65 remain in work, this will inevitably have a significant impact on how financial advisers plan for their clients’ retirement.”
Of the total number in the over-65 age bracket, 615,000 were men and 388,000 were women.
The ONS statistics also revealed that, in the three months to April, unemployment had fallen by 5000 to 2.51m.
Provider View
Vince Smith Hughes, a retirement expert at Prudential, said: “Our Class of 2013 study, which interviewed 8676 UK non-retired adults, revealed that retirees aren’t just staying in work for financial reasons.
“Over half of people planning to retire this year want to extend their careers to keep their mind and body healthy, while 57 per cent of people planning to retire this year are considering working past state pension age, either in full or part-time work. This compares to 40 per cent in 2012.”
Chris Jessop, managing director of UK and Europe health services for Axa PPP, said: “These figures are a huge milestone and a taste of things to come. An older, experienced workforce can be beneficial for businesses and workers alike.”
Adviser View
Peter Davies, founder of Cardiff-based advisory firm Create Wealth, said: “This strategy of a phased retirement approach is increasingly being implemented in our pre-retirement financial plans. Clients, especially those with lower incomes, want to factor it in, as they don’t have final salary schemes and consequently have low returns.”
