2016’s political surprises have taken their toll on UK defined benefit pensions. Whilst corporate performance has been respectable (particularly for overseas revenues benefiting from weak sterling), the rush for safe assets has pushed gilt prices up and yields down, hitting the valuation of defined benefit liabilities very hard.
The fall in gilt yields has resulted in the Index falling by more than 10 percentage points, the biggest annual fall since the recession. The Pensions Regulator has highlighted this stress on defined benefit pensions – estimating 5% of schemes in this valuation cycle are at risk of, or already failing to, meet obligations.
Watch our short video where Jonathon Land, Pensions Credit Advisory Leader, Andrew Sentance, Senior Economic Adviser and Sinead Leahy, Pensions Investment Partner discuss the findings from the Pensions Support Index and economic climate.
To explore the findings of our 2017 Pensions Support Index, please see the attachment below.
