PPF publishes latest version of The Purple Book

The PPF has published the 18th edition of The Purple Book, which provides data and analysis of the UK DB pension landscape. According to the report, the net funding position on a section 179 basis improved to a surplus of £358.9bn in the year to March 31, 2023, with more than 80 per cent of schemes in surplus. The findings also revealed that the aggregate funding ratio increased from 113.1 per cent in 2022 to 134 per cent in the same period.

The total number of DB schemes fell slightly from 5,131 to 5,063 as a result of winding-up, mergers or falling into the PPF. However, there remains a “long tail” of small DB schemes in the market.

As regards asset allocation, the PPF notes that the largest shift was the increase in allocations to unquoted/private equity which increased from 21.5 per cent to 29.5 per cent. Investments in UK-quoted equity continued to decrease, falling from 9.9 per cent to 7.6 per cent, while overseas-quoted equities fell from 68.6 per cent to 62.8 per cent.