According to recently released figures high debt levels could result in an increasing number of people having to work into their retirement in order to fund their lifestyle and deal with the financial commitments that they are still burdened with. Officials believe that this will lead to a sharp increase in the number of people that are only partly retired, as many may have to continue working part time.

Researchers have said that 20 percent of people aged fifty five and over said that due to their circumstances and financial positions they would have to continue working until they were seventy years of age, and in some cases even longer. This is the future that could be facing older people that still have mortgage and other debts but no proper pension provision or savings.

Officials have said that the retirement dreams of many people have been dashed as a result of the high levels of debt that they have coupled with their lack of savings and pensions. Their financial situations mean that many people will have to continue working part time when they should be looking forward to retiring and spending time with their loved ones.

Many of those polled said that once they reached their sixties they would move from full time work to part time work, but would not be able to retire completely because their financial situation would not allow for complete retirement. One pension consultant, Linda Whitney, said that savings for retirement had become a big problem. She described this as ‘one of the largest socio-economic problems’ facing the Government.

Whitney stated: ‘People need to wake up to the fact that they will have to save more, work longer or live on a lower pension in retirement.’