Research by rural insurer NFU Mutual suggests that half a million Britons will never retire. Last year, responses to a study weighted towards rural professions (including over 100 farmers out of a total of 1,300 participants) suggested many respondents would be working past 65, the age at which most people hope to retire. 

Furthermore, NFU Mutual said over a third of the estimated 1.4 million people aged 65 and over and still in employment believe they will never retire and more than half of those planning to delay retirement said that this was because of a lack of retirement savings and investment income.

In agriculture, this problem is particularly acute. In the UK, almost 60 percent of farms are run by people over the age of 55, with the proportion in the hands of the under-35s dwindling. The average age of retirement for farmers is 70, meaning the farming workforce is generally older that those other self-employed occupations. NFU Mutual added that, "Many farmers are also reliant on property for retirement income, with more than half relying on a working farm to act as their pension fund."

According to a 2004 study by Defra, 7 percent of farmers said they wished to retire, but expected they would be unable to do so. However, the study did conclude that, overall, "The low rate of exit [in the farming sector] reflects the fact that many older farmers do not want to retire, not that they are unable to and only about one third of farmers intend to retire completely."

In response to the situation, the insurer has created a video, 'Retirement Rejecters', which attempts to emphasise the importance of planning for retirement in an entertaining way. The video, which introduces cartoon characters reflecting workers in a typical rural village discussing plans for retirement, is the first in a series NFU Mutual hopes will deal with seemingly inaccessible or complex financial issues in a more simple way, via the back-stories of each character.

Tim Price, Farming and Rural Affairs Specialist for NFU Mutual elaborated on the video. He told Farming Online, "The thinking behind the Retirement Rejecters video originated from recent NFU Mutual research into the retirement plans of those in the UK. The results showed us that many people, including members of the farming and rural communities, now find themselves in a position where they don’t think they will ever be able to retire and will keep on working.

"Without retirement savings your future choices are limited, and unfortunately relying on the State pension alone is unlikely to provide a comfortable retirement. So, we wanted to let people know that it's never too late to plan for the future, whatever age or life stage you are at."

Mr Price said the animated video represents a completely new approach to communicating with people, which was chosen "As hard messages around financial issues can sometimes be intimidating." He added that more videos are planned for later on in 2013, to explore the different financial situations in which rural people find themselves, for which feedback and input from the farming community would be much appreciated. "we're really pleased with the response so far," Mr Price concluded.