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A survey by the Pension Protection Fund has revealed an £80bn deficit within pension schemes at the end of July.

Its analysis of 7783 predominantly private sector defined benefit pension schemes in the UK shows that more than 5800 schemes were in deficit last month. At the end of June the figure was £63.1bn.

The aggregate funding position - which is total assets minus total liabilities - of the 7800 defined benefit funds have worsened in the month to a deficit of £24.1bn at the end of July 2008, from a £83.3bn surplus the same period last year and a surplus of £8.3bn at the end of June 2008.

In July 2008, the total surpluses of schemes in surplus fell to £56bn from £71.4bn at the end of June 2008, according to the PPF. It added that in July 2007 the total surplus of all schemes in surplus stood at £117.3bn.

The PPF guarantees a portion of retirement obligations of insolvent employers which leave behind an underfunded scheme. As falling stock markets and lower interest rates take their toll, the PPF is expected to have to assume the liabilities

The PPF 7800 index report for August stated: "In the past year, the negative impact of equities on scheme assets combined with falling bond yields have led to an overall worsening of the funding position, with lower bond yields resulting in a 8.6 per cent increase in aggregate liabilities, while weaker equities have reduced assets by 7.4 per cent."

Darren Howarth, an actuary for First Actuarial, said volatility and uncertainty in the stock markets were having an effect on pension schemes.

He said: "Deficits are getting worse because markets have been volatile for the past 18 months which is not particularly good for pension schemes. We have seen worsening results for the valuations we are doing for schemes, the figure that the PPF has come up with is consistent with that, deficits are getting worse and that is what we are finding as well. A lot of the volatility and uncertainty in the markets are having a knock on effect on pension schemes."

Mr Howarth said that he did not read too much into the overall index because it was a scale up of all schemes and a generalisation. He said: "The problem is the individual scheme can have different benefits from the PPF. How we would do our calculations can vary from what the PPF would do, it looks at an average scheme. This index is not that reliable, it is a good indicator of how the market is moving."