The deficit of UK defined benefit pension funds at the end of November was £230bn, the same level as the end of the previous month, according to new data from PwC.

PwC’s Skyval Index revealed that total assets for November were £1.57trn, down by £2bn from October’s figure of £1.59trn.

However, this was offset by a £2bn fall in liabilities during the same period, down from £1.82trn to £1.8trn.

PwC chief actuary, Steven Dicker commented: “While the deficit of the UK pension schemes remained unchanged over November, this masks a drop of some £20bn in both assets and liabilities, which has been driven predominantly by a rise in gilt yields over the month.”

PwC’s index is based on the Skyval platform used by pension funds and provides an aggregate health check of the UK’s c.5,600 corporate DB pension funds.

Dicker added: “The index is based on the most widely used approach by scheme actuaries for setting discount rates - gilt yields plus a margin - and these figures show the inherent volatility of this method from month to month.”

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