Abstract

University and College union members voted overwhelmingly for industrial action over the matter of the USS pensions, which will start on February 22nd and escalate into fourteen days of strike action.

The pension roadshow series of meetings will be an opportunity to ask members of Cambridge UCU ’s executive committee any questions that you might have have about the pensions issue. Both members and non-members are welcome.

USS and the employers plan to end guaranteed pension benefits (Defined Benefit) and replace them with pensions dependent on investment performance (Defined Contribution). This means two things, neither of which UUK have made clear. First, a comprehensive transfer of risk from employers to individual USS members. Second, an expected sharp reduction in the value of retirement benefits. All analyses (including the employers’ own) predict a reduction in retirement income of at 10% to 40%: a loss of between £60,000 and £200,000 for a typical member. This calculator estimates the potential impact on your own pension: www2.eng.cam.ac.uk/~gc121/pension.html (it does not constitute financial advice).