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Millions of people face the prospect of working into their 70s or 80s to make ends meet amid a pensions timebomb.

A probe by the Financial Conduct Authority reveals a third of workers – roughly 15 million people – are not saving towards retirement.

Those who are depending on the state pension could be in for a rude awakening.

Writing in the Mirror today, FCA chief executive Andrew Bailey says: “Around 15 million adults who are not retired are not paying into a pension...

“While the state pension is a hugely important part of retirement provision... for many people it is not enough to maintain living standards.”

He adds the FCA’s largest ever survey into the nation’s personal finances, a poll of 13,000 people, shows “many are not saving enough for their retirement”.

The average amount being put away is 4.2% of earnings, experts recommend at least 12%.

The FCA’s report Financial Lives, due out today, comes as experts predict the pensions crisis will worsen.

With the population getting increasingly older, the state pension age keeps rising in a bid to reduce the escalating pensions bill.

The looming turmoil comes despite many people being automatically enrolled in workplace pension unless they have opted out.

Former pensions minister Sir Steve Webb said: “The good news is over eight million people have been enrolled into a workplace pension in the last five years.

“But many of these people are only putting a few pounds a week into a pension...

"Contribution rates now need to be steadily increased if people are going to be able to afford to retire.”

Pensions expert Tom McPhail, of brokers Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “For all the success of auto-enrolment..., it is worth remembering there are almost as many who have been left behind.”

Those with no pension pot may have to claim extra benefits, mean­ing more strain on public finances.

Saving for retirement is very important but it isn’t easy for people who have to make ends meet today.

Around half of 55 to 64-year-olds are expected to live to 90 but only 7% of them expect to live to this age. Many savers look forward to leisure early in retirement rather than worry about care costs later on.

Self-employed and unemployed people are, respectively, twice and three times as likely as those in jobs to have no savings.

It’s not all doom and gloom. There are early indications auto-enrolment by employers increases saving among those early in their careers.

And 97% of 18 to 34-year-olds contributing to a pension said it had been organised by their employer.

But 11% of those aged 18 to 24 and 13% of 25 to 34-year-olds missed paying bills or credit repayments in three of the last six months.