Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to analysis from the University and Colleges Union on changes to the Universities Superannuation Scheme, what assessment he has made of any potential reductions in the pensions of university staff.

Universities are autonomous institutions and they are responsible for their own pension provision. Government has no role in relation to the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) beyond regulation as is applied to all workplace pension schemes by The Pensions Regulator.

Neither the Secretary of State nor the Minister of State for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation has discussed the USS with Universities UK (UUK) or the University and College Union (UCU). Officials have sought updates from UUK on the latest developments regarding the USS. These were informal discussions and there were no outcomes.

The department has made no assessment of the impact of the proposed changes to the USS, and believes it would be inappropriate to comment.