The total deficit of all U.K. pension funds covered by the Pension Protection Fund's 7800 index grew 15.1% in May to £94 billion ($124.8 billion).
However, the deficit decreased by 44% for the year ended May 31.
The funding level of these pension funds fell to 94.5% as of May 31, vs. 95.1% as of April 30 and 90.3% a year earlier.
Total assets grew 2.2% for the month and 3.5% for the year, to £1.611 trillion. The PPF said in an update that the FTSE All-Share index was up 2.6% for the year, while the FTSE All-World index was up 6.4%.
Liabilities also grew in May, by 2.8% to £1.705 trillion. Over the month, conventional 15-year gilt yields fell 14 basis points and index-linked five-to-15-year gilt yields fell 11 basis points.
For the year, liabilities fell 1.1%. Conventional 15-year gilt yields were up 9 basis points and index-linked five-to-15-year gilt yields were up 28 basis points, said the update.
The proportion of pension funds in the index that were in deficit grew to 65.5% as of May 31, slightly up vs. 65.1% as of April 30. The proportion improves vs. figures as at May 31, 2017, when those in deficit accounted for 71.3% of the total 5,588 pension funds covered by the index.
