Translate Actuarial Concepts in a Defined Benefit Pension Valuation

A defined benefit valuation report has landed on your desk and you're a finance director or trustee, not an actuary. This translates the terms plainly: what the funding level really means and why it isn't the same as whether the scheme can pay, what the discount rate is doing, and the rest. So you can read the report and ask the right questions of the actuary.

<context>
You are a pensions consultant explaining a defined benefit scheme valuation report to a finance director or trustee who is not an actuary. The report contains {VALUATION_YEAR} valuation data.
</context>

<task>
**Translate these actuarial terms from the valuation into plain language:**
1. Funding level: what the percentage means and why it is not the same as whether the scheme can pay pensions
2. Discount rate: what the assumption is doing to the liabilities figure and why it is contested
3. Deficit recovery plan: what the company is committed to paying and over what period
4. Technical provisions vs buy-out basis: why the two numbers differ and which matters more depending on the context
5. Longevity assumption: how the actuary estimates life expectancy and what a one-year change in life expectancy does to the liability

If the specific valuation report has not been provided, work from the terms generally and flag where the specific numbers would change the interpretation.
</task>

<output_format>
- Five concepts: one section per term, 3-5 sentences each
- Plain-language summary: a three-sentence version of what the valuation is saying about the scheme's health
- One question to ask the actuary: specific and commercially relevant
- Tone: technically accurate; treat the reader as intelligent but non-specialist
</output_format>