Britons reject “retirement” – as it doesn’t reflect the reality of later life

12 October 2026, London. Almost half of people feel the word “retirement” should be retired as it does not capture the reality of a later life where they may choose to continue to work after getting their pension, new research has found.

A new report from Smart Pension, one of Britain’s largest workplace pension providers, has revealed that 44% of people feel that “retirement” is no longer a good description of how they will spend their 60s, 70s and 80s. Smart Pension said the research, to be published in a report this week, showed the “complicated reality of later life for many people”.

Women are especially likely to reject a traditional “retirement”, expecting a later life that blends work, care and leisure.

Smart Pension’s report, Away from the Cliff Edge, based on a poll of more than 3,000 people, finds the traditional idea of retirement — stopping work altogether at a fixed age — no longer fits the expectations of a large part of the population. The report found strong enthusiasm for working beyond traditional pension age. 44% of people aged 50 – 65 said they would like to go on working.

The research found that people approaching retirement age are divided about continuing to work, underlining that there is no single model for later life. Whilst 44% of 50 to 65-year-olds felt positively about doing some form of paid work beyond traditional retirement age, 39% felt negatively.

Across the whole population, fewer than half of people — 43% — said their ideal later life would involve stopping paid work altogether.

41% would go on working because of money worries, but the enthusiasm for working later is not just driven by financial reasons. Avoiding loneliness (15%) and maintaining mental sharpness (19%) are also common motivators for staying economically active.

Women are more likely than men to reject the idea of “retirement.” In all, 48% said the word “retirement” did not describe later life well, compared to 40% of men.

Only 35% of women think “retirement” describes later life well compared with 46% of men.

When people were asked to choose a better term for life after the traditional pension age, “freedom years” was the most popular alternative.

For those who do want to work longer, flexibility is important. Almost half of people — 48% — supported flexible or reduced-hours working in later life.

Almost half (45%) of 50–65 year-olds said they would be interested in continuing to do a version of their current job, but working fewer days or hours.

Despite a mixture of need and want, the research did identify significant barriers to working later. 35% cited health concerns as reasons they would not be able to work later in life. 25% of 50–65s worry that they could be prevented from work because employers would not hire them because of their age.

The report also shows how caring responsibilities are likely to shape later life. 26% expect to spend more time looking after grandchildren or other people’s children; 11% expect to care for a spouse or partner; 10% expect to care for a parent or older relative.

Despite sometimes negative portrayals of later life, often based on concerns about inadequate incomes, Smart Pension found that British people are largely positive about their later years: 58% of people said they felt positively about life after pension age, compared to 26% who had a negative view. Men are much more positive about later life than women. 63% of men were positive compared to 53% of women.

Jamie Fiveash, CEO of Smart UK, said:

“Retirement is no longer a single ‘cliff edge’ event where people reach a particular age, stop working and move into an entirely different stage of life.”
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“For many people, later life is going to be much more complicated than that. It may involve some paid work, caring for family, volunteering and more time for leisure, with people moving between those things at different points.”
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“The important thing is choice and flexibility. Some people will want to stop working completely, while others will want to carry on in a different way. Covid and advancing technology have accelerated how people can create a better blend of work and leisure from an early age meaning people can work for longer with more balanced lifestyles.”
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“Our research shows why we need to think differently about later life. Employers can help by offering people more flexibility, while policymakers and the pensions industry need to design more flexible products and make it easier for people to understand the choices available to them.”
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“As a country, we need to find a new way to talk about pensions and later life. One single word, ‘retirement’ won’t be enough to describe the reality for many people.”

On women and later life, Claire Misata, Director of UK Workplace Business Development at Smart Pension said:

“Our research shows that women’s views on later life issues differ from those of men – women are more likely to reject the term “retirement” and less likely to feel positively about later life.”
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“That’s probably a reflection of the challenges many women face around pension saving, and the burdens they can face around caring for relatives later in life. The pensions industry, employers and policymakers can all do more to respond to women’s challenges, views and experiences around later life.”

Smart Pension’s polling was conducted by Find Out Now among 3,005 adults in Great Britain between 21 and 27 August 2026.

The Smart Pension report, Away from the Cliff Edge, was published on 12 October 2026. Jamie Fiveash will be debating its findings at the Pensions UK annual conference in Liverpool on 14 October.

About Smart Pension

Launched in 2015, Smart Pension now exceeds £10bn in Assets Under Management (AUM) and serves 2 million members and 100,000 employers. It is powered by Keystone, Smart’s global savings and investments technology platform.

Aquiline, Barclays, Chrysalis Investments, DWS Group, Fidelity InternationalStrategic Ventures, J.P. Morgan, MUFG and Natixis Investment Managers are all investors in Smart Pension.