The UK gilts market is very deep and some of the stocks are only redeemable in as long as 50 years time. While index-linked stocks have only been available for 40 years, the conventional stocks have been issued for centuries and still cover over 70% of the market, by market value.

Between the end of March 2004 and December 2022 (quarterly readings), the total market value varied between £351 billion and £2,791 billion, with the index-linked stocks proportion varying between 22% and 34%. At the end of 2022, the market value of ILGs was £569 billion (see chart).

Whether or not so much capital is effectively deployed is another matter. Indeed, we can’t understand why ILGs were strongly recommended to defined benefits pension schemes by TPR and consulting actuaries for so long.