Barbereau, 67, loves to work. A brief stint of unemployment in her early fifties turbocharged her work ethic and led her to pivot from being a university academic to a self-employed divorce coach. She has no desire to give up a career that she has spent nearly two decades building.

Some 2.12 million people aged 66 and older were still working in the 2024-25 tax year despite being past state pension age, according to HM Revenue & Customs. It underpins a curious trend in Britain’s topsy-turvy Labour market: as more young people shun the workplace, the nation’s pensioners can’t get enough of it.

The number of 16 to 24-year-olds not in education, employment or training — so-called Neets — hit an 11-year high of 987,000 early last year before dropping to 946,000 by September. It means that about one in eight young adults are Neets, with long-term mental health problems being cited as one of the reasons for the high number.

By comparison, 1.56 million workers who had passed the state pension age — 66 at the moment but rising to 67 by 2028 — were still on company payrolls in 2024-25, up 12 per cent from the 1.39 million in the 2020-21 tax year. A further 562,000 — including Barbereau — continue to do some form of self-employed work, an 8 per cent increase from five years ago.

There are now more people over 70 paying income tax than under-30s. HMRC data from the 2022-23 financial year — the latest available — shows that 5.45 million people over 70 paid income tax, compared with 5.23 million people aged below 30.

Barbereau said that her decision to keep working was born out of desire not necessity. She and her husband are mortgage-free and have their own private pensions. She has worked with more than 1,400 clients as a coach, and never worries about “turning the heating on”, she said.

“It helps that I am self-employed. If I was still in employment, I would be very difficult to manage, much more rebellious. Everybody expected me to stop working at 66 but why would I stop? My job is my raison d’être.”

Dennis Reed from the group Silver Voices, which campaigns on behalf of the over-60s, said that other working pensioners are not so lucky. “The state pension is insufficient to meet everyday needs. More and more people are being forced to take on work.”

Al new state pension will go up to £241.30 a week — £12,547 a year — in April.

Reed said that those with generous private pensions may keeping working to combat loneliness, “mix with others and make friends with co-workers”.

The £1.1bn tax break

The nation’s growing pensioner workforce may be a good thing for Barbereau, but it adds up to a national insurance loss for the Treasury. That’s because an anomaly in the tax system means that you stop paying national insurance on wages once you reach state pension age — you are still liable for income tax.

National insurance is levied at 8 per cent of earnings between £12,570 and £50,270 and 2 per cent on income above this. You do not pay it on wages below £12,570 or on income from private pensions. The exemption for pensioners exists because historically most people stopped working once they could claim the state pension.

This could be double bubble fun for pensioners , even if it’s fun deferred.