Pension deficits hit record high
UK corporate pensions fell even further in to the mire last month, with the total shortfall of UK underfunded company schemes hitting a record £155m (€178.1m), casting doubt over the ability of the government-created lifeboat designed to guarantee retirement payouts to meet its liabilities.
According to new figures from the Pension Protection Fund, the lifeboat pension scheme, the total deficit of schemes in November stretched to £155m, up from £122.1bn at the end of October. The figure is almost three times the deficit in November 2007.
In addition, scheme liabilities increased by 2.9% over the year to November 2008 to £860.5bn.
The PPF is a government-sponsored and industry-funded insurer that pays up to 90% of the pensions promised to workers whose employer has become insolvent. Lehman Brothers and Woolworths are recent applicants to the scheme.
Questions remain over the PPF, which last year had a deficit of £517m of its own, will be able to meet funding liabilities if the number of corporate insolvency picks up dramatically in the new year.
To read the report in full, see below.
-- Write to Matt Turner at mturner@efinancialnews.com
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