In its last financial results the deficit in the scheme was £90m, a liability that was weighing down the £268.8m turnover local media group’s balance sheet.

In a statement this week Johnston Press said the deficit was likely to be reduced by £50m following a pension study that has reassessed the liabilities of the scheme as at 2 January 2016, plus a further £3m reduction after it reached an agreement with its trustees over the scheme rules.

Pension scheme deficits can vary hugely from year-to-year because of factors such as low interest rates, corporate bond yields, and changes to the discount rates used against future liabilities. In the firm’s prior year results the deficit was £78.3m.

Johnston Press had previously agreed a recovery plan with the scheme’s trustees comprising a payment into the scheme of £6.3m in 2014, £6.5m in 2015, £10m in 2016, and then increasing by 3% per annum with a final payment of £12.7m in 2024.

The scheme was closed to future accruals by existing members in 2010.

More details about the reassessment will be announced with the publisher’s 2015 results next month.