Southampton UCU held a special General meeting on 11 September to highlight the proposed changes to the USS pension scheme.  The meeting was attended by approximately 60 members and provoked a lively and interesting debate with members who showed real concern about the impact of the proposals.  After all, your pension is deferred pay – it is part of your overall pay package.

The Employers’ consultation is based on a Hybrid.  This will redefine the way that the salary link for past service is worked out from a link to the individual members’ final salary to CPI.  All future service (for all members) will be based on a core defined benefit scheme modelled on the current career-average scheme for new starters up to a cap (the example given is £40k).  Above the cap, members and employers could contribute to a defined contribution scheme.

The powerpoint presentation can be found here:

140911 Southampton UCU GM on USS

A UCU conference on USS has been called for Friday 19 September to discuss these proposals and to plan our way forward.  We will update members following this meeting.

We cannot stress enough that if these proposals go ahead they will have a serious impact on YOUR pension.  Please encourage your non-member colleagues to join UCU – the more members we have the stronger the voice.  www.ucu.org.uk/join