Universities UK, which represents employers, and the University and College Union have said they reached an agreement on Monday in the dispute about the closure of academics' defined benefit arrangement.
The agreement follows strikes at 65 universities and six days of talks at the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service. The deal still has to be accepted by UCU's Higher Education Committee and branch representatives, who are due to meet on Tuesday.
UUK and UCU are proposing a three-year transition deal which "maintains a meaningful level of defined benefits". The transitional arrangement would start on April 1 2019.
During the three years, both employers and members would have to pay higher contributions, of 19.3 per cent of salaries for employers and 8.7 per cent for members.
The deal also includes external scrutiny of the Universities Superannuation Scheme's valuation methodology, by an independent expert valuation group, "given the concerns raised by some employers and UCU about the scheme’s valuation methodology and assumptions".
The three-year arrangement means both parties would have to find another solution soon and have committed to exploring risk sharing alternatives from 2020, "in particular collective defined contributions".
Primary legislation for CDC has existed for three years, but was not followed up with secondary legislation as CDC was put on ice in October 2015.
