Dooley Harte, UCU National Pensions Official, will visit the University of Reading to give us an in-person seminar on USS Pensions.
PLEASE FIND THE POWERPOINT OF THIS PRESENTATION HERE: University of Reading – Basic Introduction to Pensions
Thursday 21st March 13:00 – 14:00, Harry Nursten 234 Whiteknights Campus.
This open meeting is free and open to all staff, both UCU members and non-members, and relevant to everyone who is eligible to join the USS pension scheme.
Dooley will update us on the changes to the Scheme and ongoing USS negotiations. You will also be able to ask questions.
USS Pension Changes
In 2022 a range of changes were made to our pension benefits. UCU and UUK have now come to an agreement that reinstates previously-cut benefits, offers an augmentation and agrees lower costs going forward for both members and employers.
USS members will already have seen positive changes from the reduced contribution rates in this year’s payslips. As an example, for a member earning £45,000, this amounts to an extra £111 net every month in your pay slip (figures from UCU HQ approximations).
For full details of all changes see USS webpages on what’s changing and when.
Important information for non-USS members
If you are not a USS member, we recommend that you consider joining the scheme now. It offers important benefits including death-in-service cover and the reduced costs have made the Scheme even more affordable, particularly to our lowest paid and precarious eligible members.
Of particular importance is that if you join before the end of March, you will also benefit from the augmentation uplift of a further £215 per annum in pensions in retirement see USS webpages for full set of FAQs on the uplift).
USS Pension Changes Summary
1 – Restoration of benefits to pre-2022 levels to take effect from April 2024
accrual rate returned to 1/75 (had been reduced to 1/85)
DB threshold now restored to circa £70,000 (previously £60,000 before April 2022 but had been taken down to £40,000 after the cuts)
threat to inflation protection removed
2 – Augmentation / recovery of benefits (for benefits lost 2022-24): One-off pension payment of £215 (per annum paid in retirement) to all active members plus an associated £645 retirement lump sum. (Different calculations apply for pensioner members and those in other categories). Please inform USS non-members who are eligible and encourage all eligible members to join the scheme urgently before 1st April 2024
3 – DC pot: Anyone who accrued money in the DC pot due to threshold changes in 2022-24 will keep that pot untouched too.
4 – Reduced contribution rates –from January 2024. Contribution rates reduced to 6.1% for employees and 14.5% for employers
If you have any queries, please email RUCU branch administrator.
Best wishes
Reading UCU
