Short Summary (TL; DR)

• Please oppose Option A in the upcoming survey on the USS that management is about to send out. It involves huge cuts to pensions based on an unjustified and debunked valuation.
• Please complete the HQ survey (previously circulated by email) to indicate when would be the best time to take action as a national union to defend pensions & pay.

Full Update

Following a series of back and forth communications, the USS Trustees released a new proposal for UUK’s consideration, who are now consulting member Universities between 18 June – 5 July. Following a sub-JSNCC meeting earlier this week, EG will themselves consult members of staff on the proposal, ‘Option A’.

In line with the national UCU position, I am writing to recommend that you strongly oppose Option A, which would be to accept devastating cuts to staff pensions. In specific, Option A amounts to a cap on indexation of 2.5%, a reduction from 60k to 40k in the Direct Benefit hybrid, and a cut in accrual from 1/75 to 1/85. In general, UUK says we should pay more, work longer, have fewer guarantees, for a worse pension that will not track inflation.

UUK was highly critical of the 2020 valuation and requested a review, which USS rejected on 29 March. UUK then conducted an in-depth consultation between 7 April – 24 May, that asked questions about covenant support, USS governance and proposed changes to the scheme.

Reporting on this consultation UUK has so far issued only a short statement, 15 June, promising further detail this month. Yet, this statement repeated the incorrect claim that:

UUK’s proposal would lead to a headline reduction of about 12% in future pension benefits.

UUK know this statement is incorrect as UUK’s own actuary confirmed the average cut is 21%, while UCU’s individual modeller, designed by their actuary, demonstrates the high level of individual cuts, with the largest falling disproportionately on younger members of staff and so also disproportionately impacting those from under-represented groups.

UCU has rightly referred to UUK’s behaviour as a PR exercise to justify slashing pensions. UUK has now opened this second consultation, with a two week deadline, that contains almost no mention of the level of cuts or detail on proposals for flexible options.

For these reasons, and given that all stakeholders consider the valuation unjustified, I recommend you firmly reject Option A, which would slash staff pensions. I also recommend you call on UUK in the survey to join with UCU on the JNC to propose sustainable reforms to the governance of USS, to publicly lobby for a better understanding of the strength of the sector and to defend staff pensions against this unjustified attack.

What you can do

• Oppose Option A in the upcoming survey that management are about to release. This will demonstrate the strength of members’ will and encourage them to adopt an opposing position.
• Please complete the HQ survey (previously circulated by email) to indicate when would be the best time to take action as a national union to defend pensions & pay.
• Fill in the USS modeller to see how the current proposals will impact your pensions.