Universities calm staff by halving pension plan deficit

Further industrial action by thousands of academics over claims their retirement benefits had become unaffordable is less likely after a £7.5 billion (US$9.5 billion) funding hole in the United Kingdom’s largest private-sector pension scheme was halved, writes Josephine Cumbo for the Financial Times.

On Friday last week, the £63 billion Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), whose 400,000 members include academics and higher education workers, estimated the plan’s deficit at £3.6 billion. This compared with £7.5 billion in 2017.

The revision came after an independent expert panel found flaws in the scheme’s 2017 valuation, and assessed the fund to be in better financial shape than the USS trustees had calculated. It is likely to stave off further industrial action by thousands of academics and university staff, who in 2017 walked out over proposed cuts to their pensions.
Full report on the Financial Times site