Nearly one in three men (32%) have the financial foundation to retire early compared to just one in six (16%) of women, according to a new report.

Men are most likely to retire early due to having sufficient pensions and savings, whereas women are most likely to retire early due to poor health, according to the new report from Just Group.

Poor health was responsible for 37% of women retiring earlier than they had expected, in comparison to 29% of men.

Women were also three times as likely to have stopped work early to provide care (14%) for a family member than men (4%).

However, 17% of men said they had left work early due to losing a job and not being able to find another, higher than the 12% of women.

According to May UK labour market figures from the Office for National Statistics, four times as many women than men over 65 years old have left the workforce since the Coronavirus pandemic lockdowns began last March.

Research was conducted by Opinium on behalf of Just Group among 1,043 UK retired and semi-retired adults aged 55+ between 21 and 26 April.