We asked survey respondents what they would do if they ran into severe financial difficulty in their retirement. Many would be prepared to do part-time work. This reflects the learnings from our Ageing and Retirement report published in 2010, where we found that many actively want to continue working on a part-time basis after their retirement. Three quarters (75%) of those who are currently working would be prepared to do this.

We found that in general those who are currently working are more open to alternative methods of funding their retirement than current retirees. Perhaps they are already cognizant of the pensions challenge facing their own generation and that they might need to keep an open mind towards innovative solutions and compromises.

This gives us a picture of the ‘working retired’, someone who has retired from full time work and is eligible for the basic state pension but still works part-time; this is a type that we predict will be emerging by 2020. According to the Office of National Statistics economic activity rates have already been increasing among those aged 65+. We anticipate that they will continue to do so and by 2020 this trend will be accelerating.

This is not only a function of increases in the state pension age but will also be a phenomenon seen among those older than the state pension age. The increase in healthy life expectancy – the length of time people live in a healthy state – will also enable this trend. This willingness is partly too an acceptance that these solutions might become necessary is the crisis is not solved.

We term this socio-economic group ‘Wearies’ – Working, Entrepreneurial and Active Retirees – who could be working part-time well into their seventies.

For this project we undertook quantitative research among a nationally representative sample of 1,000 respondents, conducted a focus group and interviewed several pensions experts.

Richard Nicholls, Future Foundation