Defined Benefit

Jack Jones says too many people have their heads in the sand over shortfalls

Naomi Rainey looks at the issues raised by 2013’s triennial valuation

The range of accounting assumptions used by scheme sponsors to value pension liabilities narrowed significantly last year, according to research from KPMG.

The deficit in Tesco's defined benefit scheme grew from £1.8bn to £2.6bn over the year to the end of February.

The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) fell for a sixth consecutive month in March to hit a four-year low, according to latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Seven out of ten pension industry members back extending defined contribution (DC) flexibilities to defined benefit (DB) members, according to an Aon Hewitt survey.

Small schemes cost almost four times as much to run as big schemes and almost six times more than the largest funds, according to research from The Pensions Regulator (TPR).

The Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) has launched an actuarial professional qualification and membership category to support increased demand for analysts.

The aggregate deficit of schemes in the PPF 7800 index dropped by an estimated £140.8bn last year, according to the Pension Protection Fund's (PPF) March 2014 update.

Labour is attempting to overturn a government ban on councillor access to the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS).