The total deficit of all corporate defined benefit funds covered by the Pension Protection Fund's 7800 index fell 29.3% in April to £81.7 billion ($112.6 billion).
The deficit also fell for the year by 54.6%.
The latest update by the PPF, which is the U.K. lifeboat for funds of insolvent companies, said the funded level was 95.1% as of April 30, up from 93.1% as of March 31 and 89.5% a year earlier.
Assets grew 0.7% over the month and 2.6% for the year to £1.577 trillion. The FTSE All-Share index was up 4.2% for the year.
Liabilities fell over the month and for the year, by 1.3% and 3.4%, respectively, to £1.659 trillion. Conventional 15-year gilt yields rose 10 basis points in April and 19 basis points over the year. Index-linked five-to-15-year gilt yields rose by 2 basis points for the month and by 44 basis points for the year.
The proportion of pension funds with a deficit fell to 65.1% as of April 30, vs. 67.9% as of March 31 and 72.6% a year earlier. There were 5,588 funds covered in the index.
