Across the entire spectrum of businesses, more respondents (13 per cent) said they were less positive about changes to the schemes than said they were more positive (ten per cent).

Over two-thirds (70 per cent) of respondents across all businesses said their attitude towards the final salary pension scheme had remained unchanged.

“The recent drop in stock markets has added further pressure on defined benefit pension schemes,” said Andy Briggs, chief executive of retirement income for Prudential.

“As this research highlights, some industries are facing bigger challenges than others but finding the most effective risk solutions to alleviate pension deficits is still a universal problem for the majority of companies.”

Mr Briggs said risk management solutions were a key component for businesses to ensure their pension schemes had the utmost protection from “uncertainties”, which would ultimately affect the confidence of others in the schemes themselves.

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