The summer of 2012 was a time to set records. For the sporting world, that meant a steady succession of new highs; for the pensions industry, there was a series of lows.

The Pension Protection Fund's 7800 index, which measures the total deficit for the UK's defined-benefit schemes, hit £312.1bn for the first time in June. Such low funding levels are partly the result of plummeting government bond yields - 10-year gilts plumbed their own low point at a shade above 1.4% in July.