Bad to worse
12/09/2008
Pension fund finances worsened in August, with the collective deficit of the UK's final salary pension schemes widening to £36.7bn.
That was up from the deficit of £24.1bn at the end of July and far worse than the situation a year ago when schemes had a surplus of £59.1bn.
The figures from the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) cover nearly 7,800 schemes, mainly in the private sector.
The PPF said the cost of funding pensions had continued to rise.
The assets of all the schemes measured by the PPF - including shares, bonds, cash and property - actually rose by 4.2% during August.
