The deficit of the PPF 7800 Index has increased by £19.1bn over April to reach £245.6bn, the Pension Protection Fund has revealed.

This is despite a strong performance from global equity markets, according to BlackRock head of UK strategic clients Andy Tunningley, who said DB funds have “missed the party”.

“As the UK’s general election campaign ramps up, it’s easy to feel a sense of déjà vu. In recent years, few things have been more familiar than a UK election or referendum. Sadly, pension fund underperformance is one of them,” he said.

Over April the PPF 7800 deficit increased from £226.5bn at the end of March 2017 to £245.6bn at the end of April 2017. The position has deteriorated from the previous year, when a deficit of £188.7bn was recorded at the end of April 2016.

This lead to a deterioration in the funding ration from 87 per cent to 86 per cent. For the 5,794 schemes in the Index, total assets were £1,514.2bn and total liabilities were £1,759.8bn.

Total scheme assets decreased by 0.3 per cent over the month and increased by 13.6 per cent over the year, with liabilities increasing of 0.8 per cent over the month and an increase of 15.6 per cent over the year. In total there were 4,391 schemes in deficit and 1,403 schemes in surplus.

Tunningley added: “The last twelve months have been a political rollercoaster. For schemes that have left a lot of liability risk unhedged, it is likely that their funding levels have been similarly volatile.

"A string of high profile elections and referendums have gripped bond markets in particular – UK index-linked gilt yields plunged to new lows following the EU Referendum, nominal yields surged higher immediately after the US election, and most recently in Europe, French and German yields have been driven by news flow around the French election.”

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