Fewer than 10% of UK defined benefit pension schemes were in surplus at the end of March despite rallies in the equity markets, according to figures from the Pension Protection Fund, the government-backed lifeboat considering changes to the way it charges schemes for protection in the event of a sponsoring company’s collapse.

The PPF covers 7,800 occupational schemes in the UK and according to the group's monthly report, released this morning, only 774 were in surplus at the end of last month. This figure had fallen from 900 at the end of February.