The summer heat-wave has got one group of British workers hot under the collar in more ways than one - more than a third of UK forty-somethings say they want to retire sooner rather than later, research reveals.

And with low interest rates some people are paying off their mortgage quickly to help with their plans for the future.

The ‘burning ambition’ poll conducted by The One account Ltd, the current account mortgage provider owned by the Royal Bank of Scotland, showed that 42% of people in their forties are now actively working out ways of quitting the rat race early so they can relax in the sun quicker than they had originally planned.

And almost half say their retirement may not be in the UK and they are thinking of a life abroad where they can cool off with a swimming pool close by.

The findings come at a time when the company’s own statistics show an increasing number of people in their forties overpaying on their mortgages in a bid to escape their 'nine-to-fives' sooner rather than later.

The One account's James Duffell said: "Early retirement can be a bit of a pipe dream but we like to think that the One account is turning dreams into reality.”

“More than one in five of our customers aged 40 and above are ahead of their mortgage plan, indicating that they want to pay it off quicker than originally planned. Rather than exploiting lower interest rates by spending extra cash on other things they are determined to keep increasing payments so they can think about retirement.”

"A long hot summer is probably fuelling their resolve - after all, who wants to be at a desk in a stuffy office when they could be relaxing in the sun with their home fully paid for. We have seen that as temperatures have risen so have increased monthly payments. More and more One account customers are appreciating that they can pay more off their mortgage when they want to without facing penalties."

The research shows that people in the South West are least likely to want to retire early while those most keen to swap their office chair for a sun lounger are in Yorkshire.