Deficits

Mitchells and Butlers is set to resume dividend payments after agreeing a deficit recovery plan that includes a parent company guarantee and a negative pledge, in favour of the scheme.

The trustee of the Dairy Crest pension scheme has accepted a reduced schedule of recovery payments in recognition of investments made by its sponsoring employer that will strengthen its covenant.

The combined deficit of schemes at FTSE 350 firms climbed to £111bn in April as falling bond yields and rising inflation expectations cancelled out stock market gains, says Mercer.

The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) has cut its assumption for the liabilities it will have to take on annually in half over the last year.

Jack Jones says too many people have their heads in the sand over shortfalls

The range of accounting assumptions used by scheme sponsors to value pension liabilities narrowed significantly last year, according to research from KPMG.

The Pensions Regulator (TPR) and Pension Protection Fund (PPF) are investigating the pre-pack insolvency of Astracast over concerns the firm's owner has dumped its scheme on the lifeboat fund.

The deficit in Tesco's defined benefit scheme grew from £1.8bn to £2.6bn over the year to the end of February.

The London Pension Fund Authority's (LPFA) funding level climbed to 91% in the three years to 31 March 2013, its triennial valuation reveals.

Managing liabilities and reducing risk are among the more pressing issues facing defined benefit pension schemes. Jack Jones looks at steps employers can take to tackle these.