Salary sacrifice schemes are growing in popularity, according to one consultancy, which said an increase in awareness is helping to drive uptake.

Matt Duffy, partnerships manager at Lorica, said media coverage of things like pensions, childcare vouchers and cycle-to-work schemes has got people thinking about the tax efficiencies they can get through the workplace.

“Then when they are looking at alternative roles, either within their own company or externally, the wider benefits context actually has a much larger impact than previously, instead of just basic salary,” he went on to say.

According to research by Standard Life, 63 per cent of people think they could not live on £140 a week in retirement, the single-tier flat rate state pension recently proposed by the government.

The government is currently consulting on how the new state pension regime could be introduced, which is expected to take place in 2015 at the earliest.