The total surplus of U.K. defined benefit funds covered by the Pension Protection Fund's 7800 index declined 36.9% in July to £62.4 billion ($86.9 billion).
The surplus was £99 billion at the end of June.
A year earlier, U.K. corporate DB funds recorded a total deficit of £155.1 billion, London-based PPF said Tuesday in an update. The PPF is the lifeboat fund for defined benefit plans of insolvent U.K. companies.
The funding ratio dropped to 103.5% as of July 31, down from 105.8% as of June 30. The funding ratio was 92% as of July 31, 2020, the update said.
As of July 31, 48.8% of the 5,318 pension funds covered by the index were in deficit with a total £142.2 billion, compared with 45.6% and £117.7 billion as of June 30. As of July 31, 2020, 64% of pension funds were in deficit with a total £277.8 billion.
Assets were up 2% during the month and rose 3.2% for the year ended July 31 to £1.84 trillion.
Liabilities increased 4.3% over the month and declined 13.6% for the year to £1.78 trillion.
The FTSE All-Share index was up 0.5% for the month and gained 26.6% for the year ended July 31, the PPF said.
Five- to 15-year index-linked gilt yields declined 24 basis points in June but increased 8 basis point over the year.
