One in eight British people now works beyond retirement age, as they seek to save more for their pension or simply because they enjoy their job.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics found that 12 per cent of men and women aged over 65 and 60 respectively were still employed, compared with 8 per cent in 1992. Demand to work beyond the default retirement age has forced the Government to bring forward a review of the law, which requires employees to apply to their manager if they wish to carry on working.

A court case last week added to the pressure on ministers to change the law. Although the High Court judge turned down campaigners’ attempts to have the default retirement age scrapped, he said he did not believe that 65 would have been chosen as the default age had it been set today.

He also suggested that courts may find against the Government in future if the default retirement age is not raised when they carry out their review.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) released the new data to coincide with National Older People’s day, which will be celebrated today. It found that while people were working and living longer, they did not necessarily enjoy better health. Men can expect to live until they are 77.2 years old, and women to 81.5 years, but the years of “good or fairly good health”, is only 68.2 for men and 70.4 for women.

Average pensions have increased by 42 per cent in the past 12 years, well ahead of average earning growth.

However, incomes vary considerably. The richest fifth of pensioners have incomes almost four times as big as those of the poorest fifth.

The ONS also published the age profile of the UK, which varies considerably by region. West Somerset has the oldest median age in the UK at 52 years, with Christchurch in Dorset and North Norfolk close behind.

The South West of England has the highest total migration of people aged 60 or over.

Oxford has the lowest age profile at 29.

The ONS has launched a new tool on its website for the public to calculate the age profile of their local area.