The total deficit of U.K. defined benefit funds covered by the Pension Protection Fund’s 7800 index increased 1.3% in October, to £168.2 billion ($217.7 billion).

The deficit was £166.1 billion at the end of September. Deficits also worsened for the year ended Oct. 31, from £74.3 billion, said an update Tuesday by the London-based PPF. The PPF is the lifeboat fund for the defined benefit plans of insolvent U.K. companies.

The funding ratio of the corporate pension plans worsened to 91.2% as of Oct. 31, down from 91.4% as of Sept. 30. The funding ratio was 95.8% as of Oct. 31, 2019, the update said. Assets were down 1% during the month and rose 2.9% for the year ended Oct. 31, to £1.75 trillion.

Liabilities decreased 0.8% over the month and increased 8% for the year, to £1.92 trillion. The FTSE All-Share index was down 3.8% for the month and fell 18.6% for the year ended Oct. 31, the PPF said. Five- to 15-year index-linked gilt yields increased 3 basis points in October but declined 37 basis points over the year.

As of Oct. 31, 66.7% of the 5,422 pension funds covered by the index were in deficit, compared with 64.2% as of Sept. 30. A year ago, 60.6% of the 5,422 pension funds were in deficit. Commenting on the latest figures, Sion Cole, head of U.K. fiduciary business at BlackRock, said: “October saw, once again, an increase in levels of global uncertainty as a resurgence of COVID-19 cases and the upcoming U.S. election weighed on markets.

In some good news for pension schemes this year, they appeared to weather the storm fairly well with funding levels broadly flat, with the PPF 7800 index down 0.2% to finish the month at 91.2%.”

Read more @Pion Line