18% of people aged 50 and over say that the Covid-19 pandemic has already or may impact their retirement plans, according to a new study from Co-op Insurance.

Of these, 25% said they’ve not been able to retire due to their finances, 22% have had to use some of their retirement savings after being out of work and 10% have retired sooner than planned due to being made redundant during the pandemic.

Meanwhile, the study reveals that the pandemic has encouraged 31% of people aged 50 and over yet to retire to do so sooner.

Of those people over the age of 50 who have retired, 23% said the disease has affected their plans to spend time with friends and family and a fifth (20%) have not been able to travel as they’d planned.

Graham Ward Lush, head of life insurance at the Co-op said: “It’s perhaps no surprise that so many people over the age of 50 are disappointed with how the pandemic has affected their retirement plans, with so many (43%) envisaging more of this time being spent with friends and family.

“It’s encouraging to hear though that despite this situation being frustrating and disappointing for so many, the majority of people are now planning to make up for lost time.”