Latest update
February 2024 update
USS benefits are changing, could joining or re-joining be right for you?
Following the 2023 valuation, USS benefits are changing, subject to the formal processes being completed. This means if you start paying in again, you will:
1. Pay less
Since 1 January 2024, member contribution rates have reduced from 9.8% of salary to 6.1%.
Use the USS Contributions and Tax calculator in My USS to see how much you would pay.
2. Get a boost to your pension
Subject to certain criteria if you are eligible and have any period of active membership between 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2024, and you do not retire before 1 April 2024, you will receive a benefit uplift. If you haven’t built-up benefits during this time but start paying in before 1 April 2024 you’ll still receive this uplift.
3. Build more defined benefits
From 1 April 2024, members will build more defined benefits in the Retirement Income Builder.
This reflects part of the JNC’s proposed package of benefit changes.
December 2023 update
What you pay and what you get is changing (uss.co.uk)
Scheme changes approved | USS Employers
November 2023 update
UUK update on USS 2023 valuation
October 2023 update
An update from USS 26th October 2023
September 2023 update
Kent response to UUK consultation on the USS 2023 valuation technical provisions
UUK collective response to USS on the valuation
technical provisions
July 2023 update
Positive signs on USS for pension scheme members and employers | USS Employers
May 2023 update
March 2023
USS update
A joint statement on UUK and UCU collaboration toward USS benefit restoration.
Following the March 2023 Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) meeting, UUK has agreed a joint statement with UCU (which is set out below) outlining how both parties are working together on the future of USS benefits.
This latest statement builds on the interim statement in February, and outlines in further detail three of the key commitments and steps that are being explored in light of recent monitoring figures from the USS Trustee which show a significant improvement in the financial position of the scheme.
The joint statement is set out below, and has been published on the USSEmployers and the UCU websites:
A joint statement on UUK and UCU collaboration toward USS benefit restoration
Following the March 2023 Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) meeting, we wish to provide a progress update on three of the key commitments we made within the interim joint statement (dated 17 February 2023). These commitments were:
- we jointly agreed to prioritise the improvement of benefits to pre-April 2022 levels, where this can be done in a demonstrably sustainable manner;
- we are committed to working together so that this, and future, valuations are undertaken on a moderately prudent and evidence-based basis, taking account of the open and long-term nature of the scheme … so that we do not return to dispute at each valuation;
- We agree … to work together on a constructive dialogue with the Pensions Regulator (tPR) and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
To progress the first commitment on benefit improvement, UCU made a request at the March JNC for USS to provide pricing to restore benefits to pre-April 2022 levels as a central premise for the 2023 valuation. UUK fully supported this request. This was done in anticipation of the USS Trustee confirming its pricing to allow for an improvement of benefits and a reduction in contributions. USS has agreed to prioritise this work within the accelerated valuation timetable, with a view to achieving positive benefit change from April 2024. UCU and UUK have also agreed to develop and implement a robust and transparent mechanism for managing risk which can provide more sustainable benefits and contributions for future valuations.
Returning to pre-April 2022 benefit levels in full requires a statutory member consultation. At the same JNC meeting, UUK and UCU agreed to work together and at pace on preparing and issuing a joint member consultation over the option of full restoration.
To progress the second commitment on valuation methodology, UUK and UCU agree to continue collaborative work within the Valuation Technical Forum, exploring and evaluating the assumptions USS will use for the 2023 valuation. This work is ongoing and we appreciate the engagement across the USS Trustee Board and Executive in this work. We are jointly preparing further follow up work including engagement with the USS Trustee Board on developments for greater transparency.
UCU and UUK will also explore the options and costs of augmenting benefits in recognition of the lower benefits accrued between April 2022 and April 2024, within the 2023 valuation timetable.
To progress the third commitment on
joint engagement with tPR and DWP, we expect to submit a joint response with
USS to the second stage of the Pension Regulator’s consultation over the
Defined Benefit (DB) funding code. The first such joint letter was submitted in
October 2022 and is available here.
Our joint engagement with tPR and DWP will include a focus on the open,
immature and long-term nature of the scheme, as well as the unique nature of
the Higher Education sector. We are grateful to USS for their continuing work
and support in this area and for their initiative, with our support, to seek to
reinvigorate collaboration between open defined benefit schemes to make the
case for a regulatory environment that better supports open DB schemes.
We reiterate our shared agreement to a scheme governance review.
Our negotiations continue to be constructive.
Forthcoming short
consultations with USS employers
Consultation on proposed changes to USS relating to extended powers of the Pensions Regulator.
UUK will, in the next few weeks, commence a consultation with employers on a proposal to change the rules of USS to respond to new, extended powers of the Pensions Regulator which have emerged from the Pension Schemes Act 2021.
We have engaged extensively with the USS Trustee over recent months about the potential solutions, and have jointly prepared consultation materials which we hope fully explain the issues, and the specific proposal identified.
Consultation on the findings of the exploratory phase of the alternative scheme design (Conditional Indexation) workstream.
Later this month, UUK is planning to share the exploratory work carried out in partnership with the USS Trustee, on a potential Conditional Indexation model for USS.