Tumbling investment markets wiped a record £65 billion off the value of Britain's blue-chip company pension schemes this year, opening a £130 billion deficit and casting doubts over their ability to meet obligations to retiring employees.

Deloitte, the consultant, said that market turbulence had cut the value of FTSE 100 pension scheme assets by about 17 per cent in the past 12 months. That could lead to demands from scheme trustees for companies to inject fresh capital or use other guarantees to ensure future obligations are met.

David Robbins, pensions partner at Deloitte, said: “The only schemes that have done well have been those like Rolls-Royce, Boots and WH Smith that have been totally invested in bonds. The big question for trustees now is going to be: how are we going to get some cash put into the scheme?”

Additional employee contributions, worth about £13 billion, helped to trim this year's ballooning deficit but the drop in asset values was five times that level. Pension trustees face a dilemma: their funds may be in deficit but the onset of a harsh recession means the sponsoring companies are also weak, and asking them for extra cash could threaten their survival.

Instead, companies are likely to begin pledging assets, such as property holdings, to their pension funds, Mr Robbins said. He cited John Lewis, the department store group, which last month transferred its £128 million holding in Ocado, the online retailer, to its fund in order to plug a deficit.

Tom McPhail, head of pensions research at Hargreaves Lansdown, the stockbroker, said the idea could gain ground. “One of the big problems that businesses are going to face over the next 12 months is cashflow. Parking the pensions liability by pacifying the trustees with a charge over the assets seems like a viable proposition.”

The Society of Pension Consultants said that some final salary pension schemes were in “material deficit”. Duncan Howorth, the president, urged the Pensions Regulator to be flexible in helping companies and their pension schemes to resolve any wrangles over funding. He said the Government should intervene if necessary, even to provide guarantees to shore up schemes.

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