The Minimum Funding Requirement (MFR) was a part of United Kingdom legislation in the Pensions Act 1995, and was introduced on 6 April 1997.
The aim of the Minimum Funding Requirement was to set a minimum amount of assets that a defined benefit pension scheme should hold in order to fund its promised benefits.
After the introduction of the Minimum Funding Requirement, there were several modifications to the assumptions to cope with perceived weaknesses in the original basis.
The Pensions Act 2004 abolished the MFR and introduced a new scheme funding objective hoped to adapt more flexibly to individual schemes' circumstances but at the same time protecting members' benefits.
Paul Myners report states on page 4: "I propose replacing the Minimum Funding Requirement, which distorts investment and fails to protect scheme members, with a long-term approach based on disclosure and openness instead of an artificial uniform yardstick."