More than 70,000 staff at 150 universities will go on strike for three days in November, in the latest escalation of a dispute that includes disagreement over the valuation of the Universities Superannuation Scheme.
In October, the University and College Union obtained a mandate to strike in 150 universities over cuts to USS members’ benefits.
The USS 2020 valuation, which yielded a £14.1bn deficit, is at the centre of the dispute. Cuts were proposed that were based on this valuation.
The scheme has since recovered to a surplus of £1.8bn and unions are opposed to reform proposals agreed between the USS trustee and Universities UK, which represents USS employers. These promised greater covenant support and a moratorium on scheme exits in exchange for a comprehensive governance review.
Campuses across the UK are about to experience strike action on a scale never seen before
Jo Grady, UCU
The UCU has long argued that cuts to pensions were unnecessary and should be reversed, and has staged several rounds of strike action.
On October 27, the UCU claimed that a recent USS update “shows the scheme is in such a healthy position that those lost benefits could be paid back, backdated to April — and still leave the scheme in surplus”.
The strikes will take place on November 24, November 25 and November 30.
UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: “Campuses across the UK are about to experience strike action on a scale never seen before.”
USS ‘unable to establish a long-term view’
In its announcement of the November strikes, the UCU claimed that the average member would lose 35 per cent from their guaranteed future retirement income as a result of the revisions made to the scheme earlier this year.
UCU is demanding that these cuts are abandoned and that benefits are restored.
Grady said: “Seventy-thousand staff will walk out and make clear they refuse to accept falling pay, cuts to pensions and insecure employment.
“This is not a dispute about affordability — it is about choices. Vice-chancellors are choosing to pay themselves hundreds of thousands of pounds whilst forcing our members onto low-paid and insecure contracts that leave some using food banks.
“They choose to hold billions in surpluses whilst slashing staff pensions.”
A UUK spokesperson said: “We are already working with UCU ahead of the next valuation, including sending a joint statement to the Department of Work and Pensions on pension regulation, establishing a technical group on valuation methodology, and on low-cost options for employees who want more flexible pension contributions, and scheme redesign.
“However, in relation to the valuation itself, the current highly volatile economic climate has meant that the USS Trustee insists it is unable [to] establish a long-term view of its funding position, or revise its prices, ahead of the next valuation in March 2023.
USS pension benefits ‘could be retroactively paid back’
The University and College Union has claimed that approximately £0.5bn in pension benefits cut by Universities UK could be paid back to around 200,000 staff in the Universities Superannuation Scheme.
“In recent weeks, we have worked jointly with the USS trustee to produce an accelerated valuation timeline, and we hope this will allow us to see sustained improvements in funding. At that point we will want to work with UCU to agree any changes as quickly as possible.
“It is important to remember that USS pensions remain among the most generous in the private sector. Employer payments have risen to 21.6% of salary, which is far higher than most other schemes.”
Staff will also begin industrial action short of strike action from November 23, UCU said, which includes “working to rule, refusing to make up work lost as a result of strike action and refusing to cover for absent colleagues”.
