The worth of self-administered pension funds’ assets dropped to £928bn as stock markets took a dive in 2008, according to a chapter of Pension Trends published by the Office for National Statistics.
The value of these assets was £1,093bn in 2007.
In 2008, the total income of self-administered pension funds was £58.6bn, down from £71.8bn in 2006. This is the biggest fall since the start of the series in 1984.
The downturn was driven by a reduction in employers’ special contributions, which were worth £6.8bn in 2008 compared with £13.2bn in 2006, and a drop in transfers into pension funds, worth £1.5bn in 2008 compared with £9.7bn in 2006.
Expenditure of self-administered pension funds was also lower in 2008, down to £48.9bn compared to £52.1bn in 2006.
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