The Morrisons Group pension schemes reported £256m worth of growth in its net accounting surplus over the past year, up to £944m (£688m in 2018/19).

The group’s year end financial report also included a recently concluded triennial pension valuation, which revealed a funding surplus of £682m, almost six times the £111m surplus reported in 2016/17.

Morrisons operates a number of defined benefit (DB) schemes, including CARE schemes, which were not open to new members and were closed to future accrual in July 2015, and the Retirement Saver Plan (RSP), a cash balance scheme that was closed to future accrual in September 2018.

The CARE schemes saw and increase of more than £200m over the past year, increasing from £730m in 2019 to £950m in 2020.

Likewise, the RSP scheme saw its deficit fall from £42m in 2019 to £16m in 2020.

Assets of both DB schemes grew over the past year, with £231m worth of movement attributed to remeasurement in other comprehensive income.

The group also benefited from £19m worth of net retirement benefit interest income, reported outside profit before tax and exceptionals.

The group also opened a defined contribution scheme in 2018, the Morrisons Personal Retirement Scheme (MPRS), which acts as the auto-enrolment scheme for the organisation.

Throughout the past year, the group’s contributions more than doubled from £28m in 2019, to £78m in the 52 weeks ended 2 February 2020, with an expectation for a further £80m in the following period.

Morrisons chief executive, David Potts, and chair, Andrew Higginson, commented: "We are currently facing unprecedented challenges and uncertainty dealing with COVID-19. Looking after our colleagues and customers is our priority, ensuring that we have a clean, safe place to shop and work.

"At Morrisons, we have a strong, experienced, and above all, determined team of the best food makers and shopkeepers in Britain. We promise to work as hard as we can for customers, suppliers, and all stakeholders to keep our shops operating as smoothly as possible. Thank you to all our colleagues for your incredible efforts so far."

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