14 May 2009
According to the Pension Protection Fund (PPF), UK pension funds
saw their financial position improve during April. The collective
deficit of nearly 7,400 final salary schemes in the private sector
fell by £53.5bn to £242bn. However this was still far worse than
the surplus of £27.1bn recorded one year ago in April 2008.
The PPF said rising share prices in the past month had pushed up
the value of scheme assets. During the month of April there was a
4% increase in assets due to rising UK and global equities.
Meanwhile, higher gilt yields in general led to a fall in
liabilities of 3%. In particular, the FTSE-100 share index rose by
9.5% in April.
