From The BBC:
The value of assets held by local authority pension funds in England and Wales fell by £24bn, or 19%, in the 2008-2009 financial year.The figures have been published by the department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG). The actuarial firm Watson Wyatt said the drop was roughly equivalent to all the money the councils took in council tax that year. The drop reflects the effect of plunging share prices at the time. Watson Wyatt said that when the local authority schemes were formally revalued next year, they were likely to show a bigger deficit than before. “Private sector employers know only too well that volatility in the pension fund can eat into the revenues generated by their core business and local authorities are learning the same lesson,” said John Ball of Watson Wyatt. However, he said the news was not as bad as it seemed. “March was the worst time to take a snapshot of pension schemes’ assets and strong stock market performance since then means some of the money…
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