Almost 6 out of 10 self employed people are over 50, but only a third (36%) are saving adequately for their retirement, and 2 in 5 (38%) are not saving at all, according to Scottish Widows.

The self-employed have no access to the State Second Pension (S2P), no employer to contribute to their pensions and, under new reforms, no automatic enrolment in to personal accounts, which could put them in a very vulnerable position.

Ian Naismith, head of pensions market development, commented: “The position of the self-employed is a particular concern. What is more, over half (54%) only became self-employed in the last 5 years, highlighting how many of us currently in good employer schemes may find ourselves over 50 and having to strike out alone.”

The study also shows that less than a quarter (23%) of self-employed people feel they are able to save regularly. On average they have both a higher mortgage debt of £146,945 and monthly non-mortgage debts of £9,643 compared to employed people, which is likely to impact on their capacity to save.