The aggregate deficit of the defined benefit schemes in the Pension Protection Fund’s 7800 Index increased by £40.3bn over August.

As a result the deficit at the end of August 2017 was £220.4bn, compared to £180.1bn at the end of July 2017. However, the position has improved from the previous year when a deficit of £413.1bn was recorded at the end of August 2016.

The funding ratio of schemes decreased over August from 89.4 per cent at the end of July to 87.6 per cent. The funding ratio is higher than the 78.3 per cent recorded in August 2016.
Within the index, total scheme assets amounted to £1,553bn at the end of August 2017.

Total scheme assets increased by 1.9 per cent over the month and increased by 4.5 per cent over the year. Total scheme liabilities were £1,773.4bn at the end of August 2017, an increase of 4.0 per cent over the month and a decrease of 6.6 per cent over the year.

The aggregate deficit of all schemes in deficit at the end of August 2017 is estimated to have increased to £293.1bn from £257.9bn at the end of July 2017. At the end of August 2016, the equivalent figure was £451.1bn. At the end of August 2017, the total surplus of schemes in surplus decreased to £72.7bn from £77.8bn at the end of July 2017. At the end of August 2016, the total surplus of all schemes in surplus stood at £38bn.

Furthermore, the number of schemes in deficit at the end of August 2017 increased to 4,261, representing 73.5 per cent of the total 5,794 defined benefit schemes. There were 4,156 schemes in deficit at the end of July 2017 (71.7 per cent) and 4,834 schemes in deficit at the end of August 2016 (83.4 per cent).

The number of schemes in surplus decreased to 1,533 at the end of August 2017 (26.5 per cent of schemes) from 1,638 at the end of July 2017 (28.3 per cent). There were 960 schemes in surplus at the end of August 2016 (16.6 per cent).

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