Pension funds on average will pay off their deficits in seven-and-a-half years, after rule changes to the ways schemes are funded helped to halve the estimated time taken, according to a survey published by the Pensions Regulator.

The survey's results are an implicit endorsement of the The Pensions Act 2004, which declared that all pension schemes with a deficit should submit a recovery plan to the regulator setting out how it plans to pay off the deficit.