Shell to cut final salary benefits The Anglo-Dutch oil company said it planned to close the scheme next year in order to "reflect market trends in the UK." Existing members of the fund will be unaffected - as will new joiners to the group before the first quarter of 2013. Shell is the only company in the FTSE-100 to run a final salary scheme that is open to new members. In a statement, it said: "The Company announced that it is proposing to develop a UK defined contribution pension plan for new hires to Shell to reflect market trends in the UK. The plan will be designed to ensure that the reward package in the UK for new hires remains strongly competitive. Active members of the SCPF and SOCPF will continue to accrue pension benefits within those plans on the same basis as now. The Company has confirmed that its commitment to funding the SCPF and SOCPF remains unchanged. Further details on the new plan will be released over the next few months. The move is highly significant with figures from the National Association of Pension Funds estimating that only 19pc of private sector schemes are now open to new members, compared to 88pc a decade ago.