Half of the defined benefit (DB) schemes offered by employers could be closed to future accruals by 2011, treble the 14% of DB schemes that have been to date. Projected pension surplus research†by Aon Consulting, also showed that 29% of employers running DB schemes plan to make changes to the design of the scheme over the next three years. This is a significant drop from the previous year, when 49% said that they planned to make scheme alterations.