More than a third of consumers believe their pension funds have been depleted by the recession, Aviva has revealed.

Aviva’s research claims that the recession has also forced one in ten of its customers to look for additional ways to supplement their retirement income to ensure they can maintain the quality of life they have become accustomed to.

Meanwhile, as a result of the recession, 23 per cent of people said that in the past year they have had to cut their outgoings to enable them to save enough for their retirement.

Aviva’s poll of more than 1,200 people approaching retirement also revealed that a quarter of people have concerns about how they will fund their retirement in the future.

Around one in three people are worried about how rising living costs will impact them in years to come, while 19 per cent of savers are concerned that their pension pot will not be worth as much as they had originally planned.

The most worrying figure, according to Aviva, is that five per cent of the respondents – the equivalent of more than three million Brits, admitted that they will rely on part-time work to fund their retirement.

Commenting, Brian Bussell, director of pensions at Aviva, claims these figures highlights how “important it is for people to start saving for retirement as early as they can”.

“Understandably, the recession has forced people to think about their retirement income and many have realised that they may not have sufficient funds to live through their final years in the comfort they have grown accustomed to,” he said.

Urging people to start saving for their retirement as early as possible, Mr Bussell added: “We would encourage people to make use of their full range of assets, including investments, state benefits, pensions and property, to make sure that they aren’t effectively cheating themselves out of the lifestyle they could enjoy.”

© Fair Investment Company Ltd