A third (32%) of Britons rank pension planning as their lowest 'life admin' priority, according to research from Standard Life.

They saw planning for retirement as a less important part of their ‘life admin’ than managing hair appointments and planning holidays.

Almost a quarter (22%) of those who were saving for a pension said they did not check their pension annually as they do not know what they should be doing.

Some 14% said they never checked their pensions.

One in seven (16%) said they do not know where to access their pension information.

Separate research from Hargreaves Lansdown found that nearly a third of investors (30%) wished they had focused more on their pension savings.

Hal Cook, senior investment analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “One in 10 retirees say they regret not looking more closely at their investments while saving, with a further 22% wish that they had got to grips with pension saving earlier. This, coupled with the fact that 55% of respondents don’t know how their pension investments are performing, highlights the lack of interest that people seem to have for their retirement financial planning.

“The reality for most is that retirement seems so far away it becomes the thing you keep pushing down your 'to do' list – something you will look at tomorrow, rather than making it a priority with today’s jobs. This present bias can result in lower retirement savings.”

A third research report from Aviva found that millions of 32 to 40-year-olds auto-enrolled into their default pension scheme never update their contributions, investment choices or target retirement age.

More than half of those on middle incomes due to retire in the 2050s told Aviva they had either never heard of, or know anything about, their retirement options.

Some 6% said they think they would need less than £15,000 a year to achieve a minimum standard of living in retirement, and 9% said that they would would take their whole pension pot as cash at retirement, leaving them with the possibility of a large tax bill and a substantial risk that they would run out of money in later life.

Only one in five (19%) said they felt prepared in terms of how they will fund their retirement.

Just one in ten of those on middle incomes retiring in the 2050s surveyed by Aviva had taken professional advice, in comparison to 37% of the same cohort in the USA.

• Aviva surveyed 3,000 adults between 18 and 75 from across the UK in March. Standard Life and Opinium conducted researched 2,000 UK adults between 29 August and 1 September and Opinium surveyed 2,000 UK pension savers on behalf of Hargreaves Lansdown in May.