Employee confidence in saving in a workplace pension scheme has improved, according to the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF).

The NAPF found that pensions remain the most popular way to save for retirement, with 41% of employees favouring pensions compared to 18% who prefer property investment.

Even in the current economic climate 82% of staff do not intend to make changes to their pension contributions and 7% plan to increase them.

Joanne Segars, chief executive of the NAPF, said: "The welcome boost in pensions confidence shows the traditional view of ‘at least I've got my pension' has started to make a comeback. Psychologically, employees are ring-fencing their pension from the other financial pressures they are facing.

"There still remains a hard-core group of employees where more needs to be done on re-building confidence, but therein lies an opportunity. Employers, the pensions sector and government need to keep promoting the virtues of the workplace pension."