The total surplus of U.K. defined benefit funds covered by the Pension Protection Fund's 7800 index declined 5.1% in October to £103.2 billion ($141.1 billion), according to an update Tuesday.
The surplus was £108.8 billion at the end of September.
At the end of October 2020, U.K. DB funds recorded a total deficit of £126 billion, London-based PPF said in the update. The PPF is the lifeboat fund for DB plans of insolvent U.K. companies.
The funding ratio declined to 105.9% as of Oct. 31, down from 106.4% as of Sept. 30. The funding ratio was 93.3% as of Oct. 31, 2020, the update said.
As of Oct. 31, 45% of the 5,318 pension funds covered by the index were in deficit with a total £118.2 billion, compared with 44.8% and £109.4 billion, respectively, as of Sept. 30. As of Oct. 31, 2020, 63.8% of pension funds were in deficit with a total of £253.2 billion.
Assets increased 2.2% during the month and rose 4.4% for the year ended Oct. 31 to £1.84 trillion.
Liabilities increased 3% over October and declined 8% for the year to £1.74 trillion.
The FTSE All-Share index was down 1.8% in October and gained 35.4% for the year ended Oct. 31, the PPF said.
Five- to 15-year index-linked gilt yields declined 17 basis points in October and decreased 2 basis point over the year that ended Oct. 31.
