Employer contributions to employee pension schemes dropped last year, for the first time in eight years.
In 2007 £33.6bn was given in 2007, dropping from £34.6bn in 2006, according to figures released by the Office of National Statistics.

Companies have been able to reduce contributions as many schemes showed a surplus due to strong investment. Previous worries about deficits have been reduced as special funds aimed at making them up from £13.2bn to £12.6bn.

The study also looked at non-pension saving and wealth and the most popular method of saving was ISAa with nearly half of the people of retirement age owning them. Employee contribution schemes are also becoming more popular, increasing from £821m in 2006 to £1.03bn last year.