Trinity Mirror has announced plans to close its final-salary pension scheme to existing members, as large UK employers including Barclays, Whitbread and IBM consider similar moves. The publisher of the Daily Mirror and many regional newspapers informed staff over the weekend that it was beginning a two-month consultation on the proposals.

Trinity’s pension deficit has skyrocketed from £37m in 2001 to £275m in June this year, in spite of additional contributions of £259m by the company in the intervening period.