As many as three million over 50’s could have returned to work after being previously retired according to a survey completed by Legal & General. The research surveyed 3000 individuals and identified rising living costs and a desire to stay mentally active were among the reasons for seeking re-employment.
According to ONS statistics there are over 25.7m UK adults aged 50+. Of those surveyed, 11% responded to say they have returned to work having been previously retired. By extrapolating the responses Legal & General suggest 2.7m over 50’s could have returned to the workplace.
Amongst the reasons to seek re-employment was a need for increased income as the cost of living crisis continues to bite (37% of respondents). Two thirds said they wanted to remain mentally active (62%) and one third (32%) felt they wanted a sense of purpose. Only 3% of respondents said they planned to return to full time work, 15% would seek seasonal work, with the remainder looking for part time employment.
The research also identified some of the challenges of returning to work with a quarter saying they experience tiredness (24%), a fifth (22%) lost out on free time and 17% found a change in working culture led to difficulty.
Commenting on the survey Lorna Shah, Managing Director, Retail Retirement and CEO of Legal and General Home Finance says
“Rising living costs are driving people back to work to top up their income as the pressure is on to make their money go further. But as our research indicates, 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 & 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 benefits of a predictable and flexible retirement income. 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.”