The total deficit of all U.K. pension funds covered by the U.K. Pension Protection Fund's 7800 index fell 8.9% to £85.6 billion ($113.7 billion) in June.
For the year ended June 30, the deficit fell 30.3%.
The funded level of the plans improved to 94.9% as of June 30 vs. 94.5% as of May 31, and 92.6% as of June 30, 2017.
Total assets fell 0.3% to £1.607 trillion for the month, but grew 4.6% for the year. The FTSE All-Share index was up 5% for the year while the FTSE All-World index was up 6.8% over the same period.
Liabilities fell 0.7% in June to £1.693 trillion, but increased 2.1%. Conventional 10-, 15- and 20-year gilt yields rose 6, 4 and 4 basis points, respectively, in June, while index-linked five- to 15-year gilt yields grew 4 basis points.
For the year conventional 10-year gilt yields were up 11 basis points; while 15- and 20-year gilt yields were down by 6 and 13 basis points, respectively. Index-linked five- to 15-year gilt yields were up by 12 basis points over the year ended June 30.
The PPF update said that 65% of pension funds in the index were in deficit as at June 30, compared with 65.5% as of May 31 and 68.4% as of June 30, 2017.
