Telent, the rump of the former Marconi telecoms group now owned by Pension Corporation, said that it would shut its £2.5 billion final-salary pension scheme to existing members as part of an effort to keep a lid on costs.

It joined the growing list of companies — including Barclays, Wm Morrison, ITV and Trinity Mirror — effectively putting their schemes into wind-up, as ballooning shortfalls and the longer lives of retired members make them increasingly unaffordable.

Telent, which was acquired by Pension Corporation, the specialist insurer and investment manager, two years ago, has about 56,000 members in its scheme, of whom about 35,000 draw a pension.

It supplies network and communications services to companies in Britain and Germany, including BT, National Express and the Metropolitan Police. It was the only part of the former Marconi empire to emerge intact as an operating company after the telecoms group’s collapse in 2003. About 1,300 Telent staff will be affected by yesterday’s move. The company said that it was beginning a consultation with staff over a new, defined contribution scheme that will come into effect next April.

As they published details of the wind-up proposal, Telent and Pension Corporation said that they had reached agreement with the trustees on a 15-year funding plan, aimed at shoring up the scheme’s strength.

Telent will inject at least £4 million a year into the fund, which was fully funded as at the end of March. The scheme will also be able to draw from a separate £500 million escrow account. Pension Corporation has agreed not to take dividends from the company before 2013, at the earliest. It is understood that the plan, which will enable Telent to expand commercially, has been approved by the Pensions Regulator.

When Pension Corporation launched its near-£400 million takeover of Telent, it was accused of trying to find ways of raiding the escrow account and there was concern over payments to Telent pensioners. The regulator initially called for independent trustees to ensure that the rights of members in the scheme were protected.

Edi Truell, chief executive of Pension Corporation, said that the newly agreed funding would provide huge additional certainty over pension payments. “This draws a line under pension costs, providing increased comfort for members of the scheme, while enabling the company to expand,” he said.

The plan aims to ensure that Telent’s pension fund is able to meet all its pension liabilities by 2023. It may then explore offloading the scheme’s risks to a third-party insurer, with Pension Corporation likely to pitch for the business.

• Prudential is to scrap its Lifetime Mortgages, which enable people with little or no retirement income to cash in on the value of their homes, in the first quarter of next year. The company said that the scheme, which has a book of business worth £1 billion, was too capital-intensive. Existing customers will not be affected.

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