Final-salary pension schemes have been closing at the fastest rate on record, the National Association of Pension Funds has said.

Only 13% of final-salary pensions were open to new joiners in 2012, a drop of one-third from 19% in 2011 and the steepest fall since comparable data were first available in 2005, when 43% were open. The proportion that closed to existing staff climbed to 31% in 2012, from 23% in 2011.

However, total contributions from both employers and employees into defined-contribution pensions edged to an all-time high of 12.5% of salary in 2012, well above the 8% minimum for auto-enrolment into pension schemes.