The Office for National Statistics has revealed that 1.4m people are working past their pension age, double the figure of 20 years ago.

Looking back to 1993, 753,000 people were working beyond state pension age. These figures remained relatively steady until 2000 when it rose quickly to reach a peak of 1.45m in 2010.

The results are based on a pension age of 65 for men and 60 for women. Some 66 per cent of people were working part-time and 32 per cent were self-employed, compared to only 13 per cent of those below state pension age working self-employed.

Some 66 per cent of older workers were women with almost two thirds of these women working in lower-skilled jobs such as cleaners and care workers.

In contrast, older male workers were more likely to be working in higher-skilled jobs such as property management and as chief executives of organisations.

Older workers were also more likely to work for small organizations. Over half of older workers were employees at firms with less than 25 employees compared to 35 per cent of those below state pension age.

The report suggests this may be due to the fact smaller firms do not offer workplace pension schemes, requiring employees to work longer for financial reasons.

The highest employment rates came from London and the South East regions while the lowest was in the North East. This is due to the cost of living in these areas and the wide variety of jobs available which might provide an incentive to remain in the labour market.

The report coincides with a report by Aegon which found that 55 per cent of UK workers were expecting to work a ‘phased retirement’ rather than stop work immediately.