UK companies saved £1.1bn (€1.2bn) in pension costs last year as they shut their doors to their expensive, guaranteed final-salary retirement plans, according to the consultancy Pension Capital Strategies - which today predicted this kind of scheme will be extinct within three years.

Pensions cost companies in the FTSE 350 a total £13.4bn in their most recent financial year, according to PCS' analysis of their accounts. The figure includes both the normal, ongoing cost of paying pensions, and special contributions to repair deficits thanks to investment losses and rising life expectancy.