The deficit of standalone university pension schemes for non-academic staff in the UK stood at 1.1 billion on July 31 2011, Mercer says.
Funding levels varied from 61% to 98%, with the average level being 81%.
Mercers FRS 17 survey looked at the pension schemes for non-academic support staff at 36 different universities, and the underlying assumptions and investment strategies.
Life expectancies of the schemes also vary from 82 to 89 years old, raising the liabilities of the universities with the most conservative estimations 36% higher than those with the least conservative assumptions. That translates into 50 million for a typical scheme, with liabilities of 140 million.
The discount rate, it found, varied from 5.2% to 5.65% per annum. While some of the difference could be attributed to differences in maturities of the schemes, the gap between 5.2% and 5.65% would be an extra 10% on a pension schemes liabilities, or 14 million on a typical scheme with 140 million in liabilities.
In terms of strategies, some schemes clearly remain bullish about the outlook for returns from stocks, shares and other growth assets, investing 100% in those asset classes, while some hold less than 50%, with the remainder invested in government gilts and corporate bonds, Mercer says.
(OS)