Private sector pension schemes show small surplus
The latest figures from the Pension Protection Fund, the government appointed scheme to secure underfunded employer pension schemes, shows that there is a surplus of £300 million in UK schemes. However, this surplus figure is slightly misleading because if you take the schemes which are underfunded on their own, the figure actually stands at £73.3 billion which is down from £79.5 billion at the end of February.
It is interesting to see that the overall position has improved dramatically over the last few months although the position of schemes which are underfunded still has some way to go to reach parity. The pressure on the Pension Protection Fund is growing and will grow for some time because the economic situation has seen many assets fall in value even if there has been a slight increase over the last few months.
More and more it is becoming evident that the UK pension industry needs a major shakeup although how and when this will happen remains to be seen. There is no doubt there is an appetite to make changes for the future although ultimately it would cost billions upon billions of pounds, and funding is very tight in the public sector and the private sector at this moment in time.
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