USS statutory consultation
You’ll have received an email on 24th January entitled “Important: Notice of statutory consultation in relation to the Universities Superannuation Scheme”. This is the result of a win negotiated by the UCU negotiating team. The main part of the USS scheme remains a Defined Benefit scheme, but above a certain salary threshold, contributions go into the Defined Contribution part of your pension. That threshold is currently £58,589.70, and was not going to increase beyond March this year. Were it to remain static, more and more members would gradually find themselves paying into the DC element as salaries gradually rise. UCU have negotiated that the threshold will rise for at least the next 5 years in line with inflation (CPI), which maintains the balance of defined contribution and defined benefit closer to how it is currently configured. Because this is effectively a change to the scheme, USS are obliged to go through a statutory consultation so that all USS members have an opportunity to comment on the change. This is a useful win, and your union recommends that you respond to the consultation by saying you support this change – email EmployerConsultation@uss.co.uk by Monday 23rd March.