UK pension funds saw their financial position improve during April, according to the Pension Protection Fund (PPF).

The collective deficit of nearly 7,400 final salary schemes in the private sector fell by £53.5bn to £242bn.

However this was still far worse than the surplus of £27.1bn recorded one year ago in April 2008.

The PPF said rising share prices in the past month had pushed up the value of scheme assets.

"During the month of April there was a 4% increase in assets due to rising UK and global equities," said the PPF.

"Meanwhile, higher gilt yields in general led to a fall in liabilities of 3%."

In particular, the FTSE-100 share index rose by 9.5% in April.

The actuarial firm Watson Wyatt said share prices had continued to improve since the end of last month, shrinking the deficit of pension schemes further.

"Stock market improvements could have added another £15 billion to pension scheme assets since the end of April," said Watson's spokesman John Ball.

"This is a reminder of how volatile pension scheme funding is and how much things can change in only a few weeks," he added.