DB deficits fall £7bn in April as equity markets recover

This meant the shortfall decreased to £128.5bn at the end of April from £135.9bn in March.

Section 179 liabilities, the level of assets needed to secure PPF-level benefits with an insurer, were 93.1 per cent funded in January, up from 92.5 per cent in the previous month.

By the end of April the total assets in DB schemes were £1.75tn, while total liabilities stood at £1.87tn. There were 3,492 schemes in deficit and 1,930 schemes in surplus, the PPF stated.

According to Sion Cole, head of UK fiduciary business at BlackRock, both assets and liabilities increased over the past month, resulting in a 0.6 per cent rise in the PPF 7800 Index.

“Assets were boosted by recovering equity markets following the sharp ‘risk-off’ moves experienced in March,” she said.

“The main catalyst for this was the sizeable and speedy actions taken by central banks and governments to support businesses and individuals through the crisis, which took shape towards the end of March.

“Despite the ‘risk-on’ sentiment in equity and credit markets, gilt yields fell another 0.2 per cent over April, driven by the combination of near-zero central bank base rates at shorter maturities and by aggressive central bank buying of government debt at longer maturities.”

Mr Cole continued: “Longer-dated inflation expectations remained relatively flat. This led to pension scheme liabilities rising by 3-4 per cent over the month.”