Much of the record rise was put down to the introduction of auto-enrolment. Since auto-enrolment was introduced in October 2012 more than 9.5m people have been automatically enrolled through the scheme.

The government data provider says that the proportion of employees who contribute to a workplace pension has increased by almost a quarter since 2012 with around 73% of UK employees engaged in an active workplace pension scheme in 2017, up from less than 47% in 2012.

ONS says auto-enrolment has led to huge gains in pension participation in groups like the young and low paid.

However in 2017 contributions by private sector employers to defined contribution schemes were at low levels with almost half contributing less than the new minimum rate of 2%.

An article published by the ONS today said: “While there has been a sizeable increase in the number of people participating in workplace pensions, many in the private sector with defined contribution pension schemes were contributing at relatively low levels.

“Last month, the minimum overall contribution rate to an automatically enrolled pension rose from 2% to 5%, of an employee's qualifying earnings, with the minimum contribution from the employer rising from 1% to 2%.”

Experts believe the changes will lead to a steady rise in contributions over the next few years.