{"id":390,"date":"2019-10-17T17:34:41","date_gmt":"2019-10-17T16:34:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ucuuok\/?p=390"},"modified":"2019-10-17T17:34:41","modified_gmt":"2019-10-17T16:34:41","slug":"about-pensions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ucuuok\/2019\/10\/17\/about-pensions\/","title":{"rendered":"About Pensions"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

About Pensions<\/b><\/p>\n

2017\u2019s planned changes to the USS pension scheme threatened to reduce total average pension income by over \u00a3200,000<\/b> per employee.\u00a0 The strike of 2018 had remarkable effect, causing an independent panel to be appointed to re-assess the health of the scheme and interim arrangements to be made, retaining defined benefits at a temporarily increased contribution rate for staff and employers.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGet real: defined benefits schemes are not realistic in today\u2019s world\u201d<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

The joint expert panel that re-assessed the scheme\u2019s health subsequent to the strike concluded that its risk factor had been grossly overstated.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve already suffered hardship and stress by striking in 2018\u201d<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

2018 was tough. But if we don\u2019t follow through, our efforts will be wasted.\u00a0 Two weeks\u2019 lost pay is nothing compared to \u00a3200K lost in retirement.\u00a0 Employers know it is not in their best financial interest to go on with the interim arrangements.\u00a0 We have to put the pressure on.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cUniversities can\u2019t afford it\u201d<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Agreement on a more realistic assessment for the health of the USS scheme \u2013 as the Joint Expert Panel recommended \u2013 would actually reduce Universities\u2019 contributions.<\/span><\/p>\n

For more information visit https:\/\/www.ucu.org.uk\/strikeforuss<\/a>.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

Kent UCU urges you to vote YES<\/b> to action and YES<\/b> to action short of a strike in both ballots.<\/span><\/p>\n

TWO BALLOTS \u2022 ONE FUTURE \u2022 BE THE <\/span>XX<\/p>\n

Sent on behalf of Kent UCU committee & reps<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

About Pensions 2017\u2019s planned changes to the USS pension scheme threatened to reduce total average pension income by over \u00a3200,000 per employee.\u00a0 The strike of … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39717,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[155769,155770],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ucuuok\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ucuuok\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ucuuok\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ucuuok\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39717"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ucuuok\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=390"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ucuuok\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":391,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ucuuok\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390\/revisions\/391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ucuuok\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ucuuok\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ucuuok\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}