Joint Negotiating Committee decision on USS

The USS Trustee has confirmed that it accepts the proposal from the Joint Negotiating Committee that will avoid higher contributions from both employers and scheme members.

At its most recent meeting, the Joint Negotiating Committee – known as the JNC and comprising five delegates each from both Universities UK (UUK) and UCU plus an independent chair – decided to progress a proposal from USS employers aimed at keeping employer and USS member contributions at a sustainable level.

Subsequently, the USS Trustee has accepted the JNC proposals subject to a statutory consultation with USS members that will commence later this year.

In March, the USS Trustee, which manages the USS pension scheme, proposed contribution increases that suggested combined rates as high as 56.2% for employers and scheme members (from the current combined rate of 30.7%) to address a £15 billion deficit identified in its 2020 valuation. The set of proposals adopted by the JNC follows an earlier request by USS employers for the Trustee to review this 2020 valuation approach.

Our own Vice-Chancellor, Robert Van de Noort, acknowledged the JNC decision: “We have consistently questioned the outcome of the 2020 valuation and the University of Reading position, as represented by UUK and now adopted by the JNC, is that the contribution increases initially planned by the USS Trustee were simply unaffordable.

“Our concern was that members and potential members might be priced out of the scheme. Increases on the scale planned by the Trustee would have benefited those who have already retired or were nearing retirement at the expense of an affordable pension scheme for younger members.

So I am relieved that the alternative proposal adopted by the JNC, a pragmatic response to the very challenging USS proposals, has now been accepted by the Trustee and will be put forward in due course to USS members for consultation.”

What happens next?

The proposals accepted by the USS Trustee are legally required to go to all USS members for a minimum 60-day consultation. If you are a USS member, this would be your opportunity to share your own views on the proposals directly with the Trustee, which could then amend the proposals.

The timing of the consultation will be confirmed shortly. When it goes ahead, we will host a dedicated staff briefing for USS members to explain the proposal and answer questions that scheme members may have.

How does this decision relate to the contribution increases planned for October 2021?

The contribution increases planned for October actually relate to the earlier 2018 valuation. After that valuation, a series of phased contribution increases were put in place for both employers and scheme member to tackle the deficit identified in that valuation.

The increases originally scheduled to go ahead on 1 October this year would have seen employee contributions rise from 9.6% of salary to 11% and employer contributions increase from 21.1% to 23.7%. The alternative proposal accepted by the USS Trustee will see employee contributions increase to 9.8% of salary and employer contributions increase to 21.4%, subject to a short two-week technical consultation with employers.

Find out more

If you want more detail, you can:

• watch the recording of May’s all-staff briefing by Director of HR, John Brady, and Director  of Finance, Andrew Grice, on how the USS scheme works
• read the USS webpage ‘Your questions on answered on the valuation’
• find out more about the role of the JNC on the USS website
• read about the USS employers’ proposal and the USS employers response to the JNC outcome
• read the national UCU response to the JNC outcome.