Delivering security, supporting growth
Download our Annual Report 2025/26
£ 1.2 bn
PPF benefits paid
Last year: £1.2bn
£ 0
PPF levy collected
Last year: £104m
7.1 %
Return on growth assets
Last year: 6.0%
£ 16.4 bn
Current claims liabilities
Last year: £17.0bn
£ 31.5 bn
Assets under management
Last year: £31.1bn
£ 15.1 bn
Future claims and risk reserves
Last year: £14.1bn
This was a year focused on supporting members, maintaining financial resilience and strengthening the organisation for the future, delivering the majority of our business plan objectives.
We have made tangible progress against our strategic priorities: acting in the interests of those we protect, helping to shape change in the pensions industry, adapting and evolving, and building on our strong foundations.
In the year ahead, our focus is on delivery: implementing legislative change; deepening digital capability; improving efficiency and service; and maintaining strong investment performance within our risk appetite.
Achievements against our strategic priorities 2025/26
- Despite a challenging macroeconomic environment, our growth portfolio delivered a 7.1 per cent return, outperforming our five-year rolling target and adding around £1.3 billion to our future claims and risk reserves.
- We paid £1.2 billion in compensation to members during the year, delivering on our purpose. Our liability-driven investments helped keep our funding position stable as market conditions changed.
- The Pension Schemes Act 2026 was passed by Parliament in April 2026, after the end of the 2025/26 financial year. Provisions in the Act will enable us to begin paying inflation-linked increases, up to 2.5 per cent per year, on compensation or assistance payments for service before 6 April 1997 to PPF and FAS members, where members’ former scheme rules provided it as of right. We estimate that this change will benefit more than a quarter of a million FAS and PPF members, which would have reduced our future PPF claims and risk reserves by £1.4 billion to £13.7 billion at 31 March 2026.
- Our Board set a zero PPF levy for conventional schemes in 2025/26. This saved £45 million for DB schemes. In February 2026, we confirmed that we won't charge conventional schemes a PPF levy in 2026/27.
- We completed a review of our process for transitioning overfunded schemes through the assessment period and on to an insurer or consolidator.
- We identified core opportunities where we can make PPF+ transactions quicker, cheaper, and better, with the end goal to achieve the best possible outcome for members.
- We held forums and workshops with our specialist panel firms to find ways to streamline the process and help achieve better outcomes for scheme members of small overfunded schemes.
- We reviewed our core systems to make sure we’re equipped for the future.
- We undertook a review of our funding framework and strategy, ensuring it continues to evolve considering the changed environment, including the move to a zero conventional PPF levy and the introduction of inflation increases on pre-1997 compensation payments.
- We retendered the Investment team’s portfolio monitoring and risk management system. The outcome of the procurement has delivered substantial cost savings, enhanced functionality, and improved contractual terms.
- We reviewed our approach to risk management, including legal risk management, against industry peers. This indicated that our risk management framework remains robust and that risk awareness is embedded through the organisation.
- Maintaining confidence in our security profile is central to our strategic, operational and governance processes. During the year we received two independently verified certifications, Cyber Essentials and ISO 27001.
- We continued to take a structured and responsible approach to the adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) across the PPF. We focused on supporting organisational effectiveness while maintaining strong governance, security and assurance.
- We began the development of a new people strategy, guided by our 2025-28 strategy, external research on best practice and benchmarks, and internal insights.
- We appointed our first DEI Lead, a senior role responsible for ensuring that we are progressing against our agreed actions. A DEI Steering Committee with responsibility for overseeing the strategy has also been established, including representation from ExCo members.
- We completed work to extend the measurement of our operational carbon footprint to include our supply chain.
- We published our first Sustainability Report, bringing together our reporting on our responsible investment, climate change and operational sustainability actions in one combined publication.
This is a pivotal time for pensions, and I’m looking forward to working with the Board, Chief Executive, executive team and the great colleagues to ensure we play our part – always keeping members at the heart of our work.
Haweswater Aqueduct Resilience Programme (HARP)
Our £60 million direct investment into the Haweswater Aqueduct Resilience Programme in August 2025 was a once-in-a-generation project to secure the long-term supply of clean water to 2.5 million people across Greater Manchester and Lancashire.
The direct investment, executed entirely by the PPF’s in-house investment team, forms part of a wider £3 billion financing package, making HARP one of the largest UK infrastructure deals in recent years. This investment will both strengthen essential national infrastructure and advance our purpose to protect the financial futures of our members.
Case Study
Supporting UK productive finance
With around half of our total portfolio invested in the UK, we bring a strong domestic footprint and deep experience in long-term, productive finance. Private markets account for approximately 35 per cent of our overall portfolio, and around seven per cent of our total assets are invested in UK productive finance, including infrastructure, housing and growth equity.In 2025, we joined Sterling 20, a coalition of the UK’s largest pension providers and insurers committed to long-term investment in the nation’s infrastructure, innovation and renewable energy sectors. Sterling 20 serves as the delivery group for the Mansion House Accord, turning high-level commitments into practical steps that support UK economic growth. Signatories committed to allocating at least five per cent of default pension funds into unlisted equities and UK private markets.
Case Study
