Trustees have been urged to ensure they understand the risks of their journey plan on their funding, after Broadstone's Sirius Index showed that while the position for fully hedged schemes remained stable in April, half-hedged schemes funding levels improved.

The index, which acts as a monitor of how pension scheme strategies are performing on their journeys to self-sufficiency, showed that the 50 per cent hedged scheme's funding position increased by 1.8 percentage points in April to reach 96.5 per cent.

This was primarily due to improved asset performance, according to Broadstone, with the size of the deficit also down by over £0.6m.

The fully hedged scheme's funding position, meanwhile, hit 71 per cent, marking a slight downtick from 71.2 per cent at the end of March, as asset values reduced at a similar rate to the liability values.

However, the size of the deficit for fully hedged scheme's reduced by over £0.3m.

Given the latest findings, Broadstone stressed the need for trustees to understand the journey plan they are on to ensure they understand the risks on their funding, with Broadstone head of trustee services, Chris Rice, noting that whilst the half-hedged scheme has experienced "considerably more volatility", it is also enjoying a greater reduction in deficit.

He continued: "Scheme funding is inextricably linked to our macroeconomic environment.

"While long-term interest rates are more stable than in 2022, there is still considerable volatility as we have seen lately from the nerves around the global banking sector and the impact of persistent inflation on Central Bank rates.

"It is important that whichever journey the trustees are on they are doing so in complete knowledge of the position and stand ready to react to market events to protect their members."

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