New figures released today from PwC’s Skyval Index show the deficit of defined benefit (DB) pension funds dropped by GBP50 billion to GBP410 billion at the end of October 2017.
PwC’s Skyval Index, based on the Skyval platform used by pension funds, provides an aggregate health check of the UK’s circa 5,800 DB pension funds.
Steven Dicker (pictured), PwC’s chief actuary, says: “October saw a GBP40 billion decrease in liabilities due to a small increase in long-term real interest rates (interest rates relative to inflation) as measured by Government bond (‘gilt’) yields, while assets have grown modestly, which helped to reduce the overall deficit by GBP50 billion. This illustrates the significant volatility with the ‘gilts plus’ approach to measuring pension scheme funding.”
