Study maps UK pension trends

UK pension fund assets are now £2.23 trillion according to the latest Pension Fund Indicators annual report from UBS Asset Management. Assets have grown by 6.5% a year over the past decade, the report found.

It also noted that occupational pension scheme membership was 33.5 million in 2015, up by 3.1 million from 2014, and the percentage of employees in a workplace pension in 2016 was 68%. This compares to 47% in 2012 and is the highest proportion recorded since records began in 1997.

The UBS report also found that DC assets have grown globally in the past decade at a rate of 5.6% annually, compared to 2.6% a year for DB assets. The long-term trend away from DB and towards DC has continued in the UK, with only 10% of DB schemes still open to new members in 2016, with 40% of schemes now closed altogether.