Statement from Pembroke College re USS Pensions

In the light of the current discussions about the future of the USS pension scheme, the Governing Body of Pembroke College has decided to publish its response to UUK following their circulation of an online survey requesting views on the new joint proposal to address the latest USS valuation (the full proposal is available here):

Pembroke College, Oxford, takes the view that it is inappropriate to respond to the consultation on the alternative proposal framed, as it is, as a simple Yes/No question.  Clearly it is difficult to form a considered view at such short notice and we are unwilling to be drawn into answering in such a binary way, without knowing in advance how our answer would be interpreted and in the absence of sufficient information to know the implications of the alternative scheme, compounded by not having transparency of the appropriateness and validity of the tests being used to assess the alternative scheme.

We wish, however, to express Pembroke’s strong desire that the maximum effort be made by all parties involved to work with Acas to think again about how best to reach a sustainable and fair solution that ensures that we can continue to fulfil our core purpose, namely education and research, and that supports the long term health of the academic profession, particularly to ensure that we can continue to recruit and retain outstanding academics in an internationally competitive field.  

We would strongly urge UUK to press for an extension to the deadline given by the Pensions Regulator to enable a thorough examination of emerging options and sufficient time for communication and consideration of reasonable alternatives.