According to Donal Coyle, associate director with Liberty Asset Management, which advises on staff pension schemes, many companies do not realise they are being ripped off because they do not understand the complicated charging structures involved.

"In our experience many pension schemes, even the larger ones, haven't been properly re-priced and reviewed in ten years or more and are effectively being overcharged by thousands of euro each year, leading to wastage of both employers' and employees' contributions, " he said.

Coyle urged companies to treat charges within the staff pension scheme just like another business expense and to keep them under constant review. By negotiating a small change in the charging structure, he said he managed to save one of his clients 20,500 a year. And because more of the money now gets invested, the company's workers can look forward to an extra 1.3m in their pensions when they retire.

"Most of us are aware of the heightened competition within the mortgage market but few are aware that pension providers have also been sharpening their pencils in recent years and there are huge savings to be made, " said Coyle.