Might USS scrap the 2017 valuation, and replace it with a 2018 valuation?

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You will have received an email recently from Jill Nimmo, forwarding a USS communication in which they offer a brief summary of the cost-sharing consultation with members that took place over the summer, and which was in effect eclipsed by the publication of the JEP report in September. They refer to the JEP by all but name in a second paragraph headed ‘Alternative Proposals’, and point out that a subsequent survey of employers indicated that employers are broadly willing to adopt the JEP recommendations. They then point out that they intend to run a new valuation, dated at 31 March 2018. The implications of this new valuation need then to be consulted upon, and they explain that this will then mean that any new payment arrangements which could be agreed will be too late to be implemented, and the first tranche of the emergency increase in employer and employee contributions will come into effect in April 2019. This will mean an increase in member contributions from 8% or salary to 8.8%, and an increase of employer contributions from 18% to 19.5%. We presume that any subsequent agreed change to contributions as a consequence of the March 2018 valuation and  related … continue reading

Some USS pension member statements ‘technical glitch’

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Some members have received a letter from USS saying that because of a ‘technical glitch’ they won’t get an automatic pension statement. This seems to be members with more complicated pension calculations. In a statement, USS says this affects around 1% of the pension scheme members. Rather than manually calculate a pensions statement for those members as a matter of course, USS says it will produce on on request within 20 days. Full USS statement including how to request a manual statement for members who won’t receive an automatic one: www.uss.co.uk/news/all-news/2018/11/annual-member-statements … continue reading

Report from UCU higher education sector conferences 7 November

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Last Wednesday our elected Leeds delegates had a double dose of special Higher Education Sector Conferences (HESCs) which had been called to decide the next steps for UCU in two higher education disputes: Quick summary 1. The Pay and Equality dispute (Wednesday morning) It was decided to have a UK-wide re-ballot in the new year, highlighting the casualisation, equality, and workload aspects of the dispute alongside pay.  See more detailed Pay & Equality report below. 2. The Pensions dispute (specifically what next after the JEP report on USS) (Wednesday afternoon) After the Joint Expert Panel Report and recent revelations about USS valuation methods, the conference advised UCU to negotiate for no increase in our USS contributions and and end to so-called “de-risking”. See more detailed Pensions dispute report below. The Higher Education Committee of UCU and our union negotiators will take forward these decisions and advice. 1. Pay and Equality dispute The first HESC, on the Pay and Equality dispute, was quorate, which means that its decisions complement, confirm, or supersede those taken by the Higher Education Committee (HEC) the previous week.  Decisions taken at the meeting (including amendments) can be downloaded via this link: https://www.ucu.org.uk/media/9939/HESC-1118-pay-decisions/doc/UCU9057Nov18_-_Decisions.doc All the original motion texts can be seen … continue reading

A USS pension update

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Our University was one of the institutions that wanted us to lose Defined Benefits altogether.UCU National Disputes Committee adopts a ‘No Detriment’ positionUSS letter proposes using an updated March 2018 valuation to supersede the March 2017 valuation Our University’s position on last year’s UUK proposal to end to Defined Benefits Members at Leeds may have seen the recent release of the University of Leeds’s recent responses to UUK surveys of its members over the USS pensions scheme. What these documents tell us is that our University is among the most hawkish in willing an end to your Defined Benefit pension and that, in something of a volte-face given that early verdict, they have conceded that the UUK should adopt the JEP recommendations. We link to these documents at the bottom of this page.Michael Otsuka, who has been instrumental in commenting on and explaining the various vagaries of the pensions dispute, has described our recorded university’s position as “foaming at the mouth alarmist in their claims of DB” and pointed out that our employer was one of the minority that advocated a shift to 100% defined contributions – the base cause of last year’s strike. Professor Otsuka highlights the insensitivity of our … continue reading

Minutes of general meeting 19 October 2018

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There may be formatting errors in online versions of minutes because of complex embedded list formatting Friday 19 October 2018, 12pm – 1pmMichael Sadler building LG15 Minutes of EGM 12 June 2018 Item not taken (out of time) 2. Pay and equality dispute Industrial action ballot results – pay and equality – will be out on Monday. We may need to have another emergency general meeting before the next ordinary general meeting 10 December. 3. USS pension dispute update, including motions 1and 2 University of Leeds highlighted as extreme institution in how they responded to USS consultations as far back in 2014. Motion 1 amended to remove “to spine point 49 of the nationally agreed framework salary scale (£56,950 in 2017/18) and to increase each year in line with pay for that spine point” and replace with “in line with inflation.” Motion to submit to UCU higher education special conference on USS now reads: Conference notes that: the Joint Expert Panel report on the USS valuation largely vindicates UCU’s arguments that there is no substantial deficitUniversities UK is currently consulting employers about their response to the reportthere will soon be another round of Joint Negotiating Committee negotiations about potential changes … continue reading