Pensions - Articles - Funding slips slightly in November but remains resilient

The Broadstone Sirius Index reports its update for November 2025 with both modelled schemes slipping back slightly, by similar amounts, as growth assets fell back a little and gilt yields decreased slightly over the month.

The funding level of the fully hedged scheme fell from 72.5% at the end of October to 71.7% at the end of November – a drop of 0.8 percentage points.

The funding level of the 50% hedged scheme saw a similar sized decrease of 0.7 percentage points, from 109.1% at the end of October to 108.4% at the end of November.

Christopher Rice, Head of Trustee Services at Broadstone, commented: "November was an active month as the Budget saw a significant level of rumour-mongering in the run up to the Chancellors statement on the 26th.

“While there was minimal volatility, Defined Benefit pension schemes would have been closely watching for any reform that would have impacted them. In the end, changes to pre-97 indexation and further colour on access to surpluses were the main takeaways and the fiscal event was broadly welcomed by markets.

“Trustees will hope that market turbulence is behind them as we head towards 2026 which looks set to be another active year for the insurance de-risking market building on a busy 2025, particularly for smaller deals. The continued strength of funding levels as well as growing insurer and consolidator capacity means that demand should continue to be serviced over the coming months.”