Pensions - Articles - Little change in pension deficit despite Brexit

 Charles Cowling, Chief Actuary, JLT Employee Benefits, comments: “Despite the political turmoil in Westminster and across the EU, the start of 2019 has seen little change to the aggregate position for FTSE 100 pension schemes which continue to show a modest overall deficit. Markets seem to be holding their breath as the political dance around Brexit becomes ever more tortuous.

 “Inevitably the outlook for pension scheme deficits depends very much on the outcome of the Brexit negotiations. But the risk of more volatility and higher pension deficits must be high. A number of pension schemes have successfully navigated the turbulent markets by taking out investment risk at every opportunity. Others are still trying to de-risk their pension schemes and hoping for favourable market opportunities to emerge. This, though, may be a vain hope, and companies and pension trustees have to decide whether they can continue to afford to run with high risk positions. In particular the fall-out from a difficult Christmas in the Retail sector seems likely to claim some more victims yet.”