That is according to Mercer’s latest Pensions Risk Survey data, which shows that their liabilities decreased by £4bn to £865bn during that time, while asset values increased by £5bn to £743bn.

This comes after the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed an unexpected fall in inflation for June, which is thought to have reduced market implied inflation over July.

“The trend of improvements continues during July, and was largely driven by a small reduction in market expectations for long-term inflation, which reduces the pension liability values,” Mercer senior partner, Ali Tayyebi, said.

“But as past experience has shown, periods of steady improvements can be reversed quickly.

“The most important question for most pension schemes should be about getting the right balance between protecting improvements in their funding position and relying on continued out-performance from risk-based or unmatched asset strategies.”

Mercer’s data relates to approximately half of all UK pension scheme liabilities, and analyses pension deficits calculated using the approach companies have to adopt for their corporate accounts.

It previously showed that the collective deficit of DB pension schemes for FTSE350 firms more than trebled from £39bn to £136bn over the course of 2016.

Read full content here: The Actuary