Top News

Britain is heading towards a future where most workers will soon be over 50.

The revelation comes with a warning in a new report that most businesses are dangerously unprepared for the challenges this brings.

A study by financial giant Canada Life reveals that more than four-fifths (83%) of employers accept that longer working lives are now inevitable due to rising life expectancy.

Yet just one in eight (12%) firms have any kind of plan in place to adapt for an ageing workforce. By 2030, more than half the UK workforce will be aged 50 or above - a demographic set to pump £730 billion into the economy.

But with just 12% of employers actively recruiting or retaining older staff, experts warn a ticking time bomb is being ignored in boardrooms across the country.

Incoming CEO of Canada Life UK, Lindsey Rix-Broom, said: "The longevity megatrend is shaping lives across the UK and beyond, transforming the makeup of our population and the way we live and work.

"The implications are clear: workplaces must adapt, but this isn't something that businesses can solve alone. It demands collective solutions that harness the potential of people of all ages."

Canada Life's Building Longevity-Ready Workplaces in the UK report paints a stark picture of the gap between what employers know and what they are doing.

While half of firms agree the shape of work will need to change, only a handful are acting - despite nearly a third (30%) admitting that an ageing workforce poses a direct risk to their business over the next five years.

Some are making tentative moves, such as promoting better work-life balance (41%), valuing skills over qualifications (29%), and offering flexible hours to carers (25%). But widespread action remains absent.

The research - based on responses from 600 employers and over 3,200 members of the public - also shows businesses expect the Government to step in, with 73% saying ministers must play a more active role in supporting older workers to stay in employment.

And while most employers (83%) believe workers will have to stay in jobs longer to support themselves, many are still clinging to outdated structures based on the traditional "learn, work, retire" model.

Ms Rix-Broom said: "The traditional three-phase model of education, work and retirement is quickly becoming outdated.

"In its place, we must create working environments that better reflect the complexity and fluidity of modern lives. This starts by better understanding the changing motivations, priorities and concerns of the UK population at different life stages."

Nearly four in ten adults (42%) now expect to retrain or pursue a second career later in life.

And while 79% of adults believe they'll be working for longer, half of employers still assume early retirement is due to physical inability - despite only 18% of workers citing health as the reason they leave.

Health and wellbeing are also major flashpoints. More than half (58%) of workers aged 45 to 54, and two-thirds (66%) of those aged 55 to 64, do not have employer-provided health or protection insurance - despite ranking these among the most important workplace benefits, just behind salary and pension contributions.

Only 38% of employers consider employee wellbeing a high priority, despite older workers saying support for mental and physical health is vital to staying in work.

Nonetheless, there are signs of a shift, with 68% of employers recognising they now have a more important role in helping people remain in work for longer.

Ms Rix-Broom added: "It is clear from our research that building longevity-ready workplaces requires collaboration and meaningful dialogue between individuals, employers, advisers and policymakers. Getting this right is not only a practical necessity - it is a moral imperative and a pathway to unlocking the growth and potential of the UK's workforce and, by extension, the wider economy."