Pensions - Articles - September brings volatility and slight funding deterioration

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 September 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.

The latest Broadstone Sirius Index found that both schemes fell slightly throughout the month with the ‘growth focused’ scheme seeing a 0.2 percentage point decrease and a 0.6 percentage point decrease was observed for the ‘matching focused’ scheme.

Both schemes experienced volatility during the month with interest rates dropping following the Bank of England’s pause of gilt sales and subsequent rises due to concerns over diesel shortages and inflation. The peak to trough was 1.2 percentage points for the ‘growth focused’ scheme and slightly less pronounced at 0.7 percentage points for the matching focused scheme.

Christopher Rice, Head of Trustee Services at Broadstone, commented: “September saw a volatile month for investment markets, caused largely by political actions and concerns both in the UK and internationally.

“It is reassuring that in the light of this turmoil, both schemes have managed to suffer only minor falls in their funding positions thanks to the protections that most schemes have put in place.

“The funding dip in the middle of the month serves as a reminder to trustees and employers that funding risk remains, but managing their investment strategy well can help protect funding as far as possible.”