The total surplus of U.K. defined benefit funds covered by the Pension Protection Fund's 7800 index increased 57% in April to £53.7 billion ($74.9 billion).
The surplus was £34.2 billion at the end of March.
A year earlier, U.K. corporate DB funds recorded a total deficit of £84.5 billion, the London-based PPF said in an update Tuesday. The PPF is the lifeboat fund for the defined benefit plans of insolvent U.K. companies.
The funding ratio increased to 103.1% as of April 30, up from 102% as of March 31. The funding ratio was 95.4 % as of April 30, 2020, the update said.
As of April 30, 49.3% of the 5,318 pension funds covered by the index were in deficit with a total £135.8 billion, compared with 51.3% and £144.3 billion as of March 31. As of April 30, 2020, 61.8% of pension funds were in deficit with a total £232.5 billion.
Assets were up 1.5% during the month and rose 1% for the year ended April 30, to £1.78 trillion.
Liabilities increased 0.4% over the month and declined 6.5% for the year, to £1.73 trillion.
The FTSE All-Share index was up 4.3% for the month and gained 25.9% for the year ended April 30, the PPF said.
Five- to 15-year index-linked gilt yields increased 3 basis points in April and declined 1 basis point over the year.