The Broadstone Sirius Index – a monitor of how various pension scheme strategies are performing on their journeys to low dependency – posts its latest update.
The Broadstone Sirius Index has published its May tracking for a ‘growth focused’ and a more conservative ‘matching focused’ investment strategy against a low dependency basis. Both schemes started 90.0% funded at the start of 2026.
Reporting its update for May 2026, the Broadstone Sirius Index found that the growth focused scheme performed best through the month, increasing the funding level by 0.5 percentage points to 92.2%. This was accompanied by funding level volatility, with a 1.7% difference in the maximum and minimum funding levels achieved in May,
The funding level of the ‘matching focused’ scheme decreased by 0.3 percentage points from 89.7% at the end of April to 89.4% at the end of May. It was a less bumpy ride, though, with the difference in the maximum and minimum funding level being 0.9% during the month.
Chris Rice, Head of Trustee Services at Broadstone, commented: “Pension schemes largely held their funding positions throughout May. The higher growth asset exposure performed better but this was accompanied by funding level volatility.
“This is all well and good when growth assets are performing well. In the face of global political and economic uncertainty, however, this could quickly reverse and trustees should consider whether their employer covenant supports this exposure.
“It also raises the questions of surplus erosion if conditions reverse with surplus maintenance becoming an increasingly important challenge for trustees.”
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