People could find themselves working until they are nearly 80 years of age just to fund a comfortable retirement, it is claimed.

Findings from Fidelity International suggest much of the country’s workforce will have to work until they are 77 to be comfortable in later years, with many having to significantly top up their pension if they are to retire at 65.

"With fewer people in final salary pension schemes, more and more have to make big decisions about their retirement saving yet they don’t have to work until they drop," noted Julian Webb of Fidelity International.

The statistics suggest anyone who wants to retire on two-thirds of their final salary should put an extra eight per cent towards their pension.

A new study from Lincoln Financial Group has revealed that 12 million UK adults are still not making pension contributions from their salary to fund retirement.

Of the quarter (26 per cent) of UK adults who are not saving for retirement almost half (48 per cent) of these claimed they need any extra cash they have to cover day-to-day expenses.