Put pensions before divis, firms are told

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But because of the current economic turmoil, it signalled that companies will be given much longer to clear black holes in their pension funds. They could be allowed up to 10 years to make extra payments into funds that have a shortfall between assets and liabilities. This would reduce the scale of annual payments needed by cash-strapped businesses.

The regulator said: "There is no reason why a pension-scheme deficit should push an otherwise viable employer into insolvency. But the pension recovery plan should not suffer, for example, in order to enable companies to continue paying dividends to shareholders."

Pension funds have been hit by falling stock markets and shrinking bond yields. Employer groups have been campaigning for firms to be given longer to put their pension funds back on an even keel.