According to MGM Advantage, some 1.85 million people have put off plans to leave the workplace once they reach pension age, with one in three workers on the cusp of retirement admitting they are likely to stay in employment for longer than they originally expected.
Furthermore, 23 per cent of over-55s stated they would work past the statutory age of retirement.
Craig Fazzini-Jones, director at MGM Advantage, said: "Millions of people nearing the end of their working life have been forced to slog it out for a few more years to see if their pension pots will make any kind of recovery."
He added that for many this was not a choice, but a necessity and that this trend was one of the most "worrying" consequences of the downturn.
And more Britons are choosing to put in unpaid hours at the workplace amid the recession, it was recently revealed.
Online takeaway firm just-eat.co.uk revealed that 58 per cent of the employees polled claimed that they were now working more unpaid hours than they have ever done before.
