Nearly three million working age adults will prioritise going on holiday over continuing to save for their retirement as their finances are squeezed, according to new research by Prudential.

The survey asked non-retired adults in the UK to outline their spending priorities when faced with a reduction in monthly expenditure as incomes are frozen for many and living costs increase.

Prudential’s research also found that an estimated 2.5 million Britons – or 10% of those who have started saving for retirement – would, if forced to make the choice, continue to spend money on nights out with friends and trips to the cinema ahead of maintaining payments into their pensions.

Also, more than two million would choose clothes shopping or going to the hairdresser ahead of payments into their retirement savings.

Having previously revealed that more than one in three non-retired UK adults have no private or company pension, Prudential’s research has also found that almost a quarter wait until they are 31 years old before paying anything into a pension.

Vince Smith Hughes, head of business development at Prudential, said: “Given the choice