The amount that UK taxpayers can salt away, tax-free, in their pensions pots each year has been dramatically slashed by the government from £255,000 to £50,000 - but the business and finance communities reacted with a measure of relief, saying it could have been much worse.

The Treasury announced the widely-expected change this morning. Mark Hoban, financial secretary to the Treasury, said it would affect just 100,000 top earners in the UK, 80% of whom earn more than £100,000 a year.