Universities UK (UUK), on behalf of 340 USS employers, has written to the USS Trustee urging it to review its decision to set very high prices to maintain current benefits and to The Pensions Regulator (TPR) questioning its influence on the valuation.
Employers are concerned that the USS Trustee’s position takes very little account of UUK’s technical provisions consultation response, and appears to be largely unaffected by the evidence presented in the Valuation Methodology Discussion Forum and the views of UUK and UCU representatives who attended that forum.
Consequently, the very high prices for current benefits put forward by the USS Trustee are unaffordable for employers and will risk pricing even more staff out of the scheme, particularly those at early stages of their career, increasing even further the current intergenerational unfairness within the scheme.
Employers are not arguing that the scheme’s status quo can be maintained. They want to work collaboratively with the USS Trustee to consider a revised approach and assumptions that bring the headline costs down and ensure that reform is proportionate, justified, and in the best interests of the scheme members.
Letters urging a review have been sent to Dame Kate Barker, Chair of the USS Trustee Board, and copied to Mike Birch, Director of Supervision at TPR.
