Employees willing to work into seventies to fund decent retirement

Employees older than 40 are prepared to work well into their 70s to ensure a quality retirement, according to a study out this week.

The fourth annual HSBC Future of Retirement study, which surveyed more than 20,000 people across four continents, found that more than one-third of UK workers aged between 40 and 60 wanted the retirement age increased.

John Small, HSBC head of business development, said: "People want to have a productive and enjoyable period of retirement, and much of their later working years is spent preparing for that.

"One of the things [the government] needs to look at changing is the retirement age. Earlier reports found that one of the main reasons for retirement is that workers have reached a designated age, not because they were ready to leave."

Most workers surveyed in Europe and North America said they would prefer their governments to enforce additional private savings. Of those polled in the UK, 35% of pre-retirement and 40% of post-retirement respondents preferred an increase in retirement age to enforced private savings or raised taxes.

Earlier this year, a landmark employment tribunal ruled that compulsory retirement was not a form of age discrimination.

A decision on the challenge to the government's mandatory retirement age by baby-boomers' group Heyday is expected later this year.