The USS Trustee has now confirmed there are no legal or operational impediments to implementing the recommendations for concluding the 2020 USS valuation formally approved at the JNC in February 2022, and has given its consent to the reforms and executed the deed of amendment to introduce the changes.
These changes include:
- A modification which provides for a temporary transition to defer the commencement of the 2.5% inflation cap until after the increase due in April 2025
- Additional contributions of 0.3% of payroll. To address this, the USS Trustee has determined (subject to consultation) that employers pay an extra 0.2% for two years (1 April 2022 to 31 March 2024) and that the deficit Recovery Plan is extended by one month. That takes the overall required contribution rate, for that two-year period, to 31.4% of pay.
- Employers would therefore pay a higher rate of 21.6% of salary until 31 March 2024, and 21.4% thereafter – unless and until any other arrangements are put in place.
The member contribution rate will remain unchanged at 9.8%.
The above changes require updates to the Schedule of Contributions, Recovery Plan and Statement of Funding Principles originally filed at the end of September 2021, now subject to a two-week consultation with UUK (and through UUK with scheme employers) commenced formally by the USS Trustee on 2 March 2022.
The full consultation documents can be downloaded below, and employers are asked to send any comments to UUK (at pensions@universitiesuk.ac.uk) by noon on 16 March 2022 at the latest.
This page was updated on Thursday 17 March 2022.
