The £3.3bn (€3.5bn) UK retirement plan for TRW Automotive, a US car parts manufacturer, is proposing to close to new members as the financial crisis puts pension cutbacks high on companies’ agendas.

TRW's scheme, one of the 50 largest in the country, may be the first large plan to stop taking in new members since the FTSE 100 insurance group Friends Provident shut its scheme in July 2007.