Universities Superannuation Scheme

(asked on 26th February 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions he has had with Universities UK and the Universities Superannuation Scheme on the joint expert panel’s valuation of that scheme.


Answered by
Michelle Donelan Portrait
Michelle Donelan
Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
This question was answered on 2nd March 2020

Universities are independent institutions and are responsible for their own decisions on employment contracts and pay and pension provision. The government has no direct role in relation to the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) pension, beyond regulation as applied to all work-based pension schemes by The Pensions Regulator. As government has no direct role in the management of the USS pension, we have not been involved in the substance of the negotiations in the dispute.

The department welcomes the establishment of the Joint Expert Panel and the contribution they have made in seeking to secure a long term and sustainable resolution to the USS dispute. The issues involved with the valuation of USS are complex and central to the ongoing dispute. We are unable to comment on the actuarial detail of the first report of the Joint Expert Panel (JEP 1), which made an alternative valuation to the USS pension using a different set of assumptions to the previously contested USS valuation. However, we note that after sustained negotiation the recommendations of this report were not adopted in full and that the Pensions Regulator supported this decision.

The Joint Expert Panel published a second report (JEP 2) in December 2019. JEP 2 does not offer a new scheme valuation. JEP 2 makes a series of linked recommendations covering USS governance, the valuation methodology and the way forward. This includes the establishment of a new, jointly agreed purpose statement and shared valuation principles and agreement to a more appropriate valuation methodology.

The department understands that the Pensions Regulator has indicated support for the high-level recommendations of the JEP 2 report. Universities UK, USS and the UCU have all expressed support for the recommendations of the JEP 2 report and the opportunity it presents to resolve the ongoing dispute.

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