Scheme funding levels worsen in June

The Aon200 Index – which tracks the surplus or deficit of the 200 largest UK privately-sponsored pension final salary schemes – revealed the aggregate pension scheme deficit deteriorated by £36bn in June and now stood at £30bn.

It said the overall proportion of schemes in surplus fell from 56pc of schemes to just 25pc.

Aon said the fall had been prompted by falling equity markets, which have been slightly offset by rising bond yields over the month.

Watson Wyatt estimated that at the end of May, FTSE100 companies’ pension funds had an aggregate surplus of £23bn under the FRS17 accounting standard.

It said that, during June, this turned into a deficit of £8bn – noting that the aggregate funding position had worsened by nearly £50bn in the space of three months.