The Pensions Regulator has urged 14 company retirement schemes to consider cutting the cash offers made to members to give up their “gold standard” benefits, amid concern that “overly generous” payouts could damage the remaining funds.

The amount of money flowing out of company “defined benefit” schemes reached a recrd of £21bn  over the past year, as tens of thousands of current and former workers converted their future retirement income stream into a cash lump sum.

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The Treasury has played down reports that Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England, has been approached to stay a year longer than planned to manage the potential fallout from Brexit.