A scheme’s s179 liabilities represent, broadly speaking, the premium that would have to be paid to an insurance company to take on the payment of PPF levels of compensation. This compensation may be lower than full scheme benefits.
Highlights
• The aggregate surplus of the 5,131 schemes in the PPF 7800 Index is estimated to have increased over the month to £430.9 billion at the end of May 2023, from a surplus of £378.6 billion at the end of April 2023.
• The funding ratio increased from 136.1 per cent at the end of April 2023 to 145.1 per cent.
• Total assets were £1,385.2 billion and total liabilities were £954.3 billion.
• There were 486 schemes in deficit and 4,645 schemes in surplus.
• The deficit of the schemes in deficit at the end of May 2023 was £2.4 billion, down from £4.5 billion at the end of April 2023.
Lisa McCrory, PPF Chief Finance Officer and Chief Actuary said: “The PPF 7800 Index is a snapshot in time that informs our long-term view of schemes in deficit. The aggregate surplus of the 5,131 schemes in the PPF 7800 Index is estimated to have increased over the month to £430.9 billion at the end of May 2023, from a surplus of £378.6 billion at the end of April 2023.
“UK government bond yields rose sharply during May, catalysed by the release of the UK inflation data which saw annual inflation falling, but more slowly than anticipated. This has led to predictions that the Bank of England will have to make further increases to the policy rate to combat inflation and return it to the 2% target.
“As yields rose, the value of scheme liabilities fell. Scheme liability values used in the 7800 index were also impacted by an update to the s179 assumptions. This served to further decrease liabilities in May, resulting in an overall fall in liability values on a s179 basis by 3.8% taking them below £1trn for the first time since April 2011.
“As scheme assets weren’t impacted by this change in assumptions and in aggregate schemes are under-hedged to interest-rates, the estimated value of scheme assets fell more slowly resulting in an improvement in estimated funding ratios of 5.5%.”
View the June update and see the supporting data on the 7800 Index for 31 May 2023 here: The PPF 7800 index | Pension Protection Fund
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