The aggregate funding position of schemes in the PPF 7800 has moved into a £14.3bn surplus, after the lifeboat updated its index calculations.

According to its latest figures published today, 11 December, it is a £81.5bn increase on the £67.2bn deficit recorded at the end of October 2018, primarily driven by a new versions of the actuarial assumptions for s179 valuations, increasing the funding level by 5.1 per cent.

A further 2.3 per cent increase was achieved by restating the funding position from March to October 2018, reflecting the new Purple Book 2018 dataset.

Total assets were recorded at £1,580bn, while the liabilities of the 5,450 schemes were £1,566bn, meaning the funding level now stands at 100.9 per cent.

Despite this, BlackRock head of UK strategic clients, Andy Tunningley, believes that trustees must still focus on improving their schemes funding levels.

“With over 3,000 schemes still in deficit, trustees are not out of the woods yet and even those schemes in surplus are still likely to be some way from self-sufficiency. The latter should be focusing on capturing these gains and considering de-risking, whether by trimming their growth assets, increasing hedging and/or more closely matching their cashflows."

According to the PPF, market movements led to a 0.1 per cent decrease in the funding level, due to an increase in gilt yields, offset by overseas equity prices.

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