A grassroots legal action by UCU branches across the UK against the management of Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) will go ahead following a procedural judgement from The Honourable Mr Justice Leech, that granted university staff the right to sue the pension scheme as if they were shareholders. The upcoming legal action is scheduled to be heard at the High Court from 21 March 2022 and is set to heighten, and perhaps resolve, the protracted pensions dispute.
A glimpse of hope in @ucu fight against USS mismanagement of our pensions. I also didn’t realise the extent of the increase in admin costs. Thanks to everyone who made this possible #OneOfUsAllOfUs #openthebooks https://t.co/YyIYf7K1vL
— Yasmin Gunaratnam (@YasminGun) February 28, 2022
The decision arrives during another week of strikes, with planned and ongoing pensions cuts in the university sector being one of the key grievances. At the Bush House picket on the afternoon of 28th February, law professor Dr Ewan McGaughey, having just returned from the hearing, welcomed the judgement. One of the leaders of UCU’s legal action, he indicated to fellow strikers that it is early days, “now this is only the first step, there are a number of steps we’ve got to take”.
The legal action, launched in October, follows the USS’ prediction in 2020 of a future deficit in the pension fund. As this widely criticised valuation is the premise of implementing unprecedented cuts to current and future retirement income for university staff who are unable to opt out of the pension scheme, it has become particularly contested in the past year or so.
At the time of editing, the crowdfunder to raise money to cover legal costs has just surpassed its £60,000 target after 1,698 pledges. To those considering chipping in, the page stated that “We are going to shine a very bright torch on the trustee directors and managers, and hold them to account to the law’s full extent for the damage to the pension scheme and to UK higher education. We are going to settle our pension system for good, so that we never need to have a dispute about this again.”
The claims, available in full at the link above, are of mismanagement and negligence of the pension scheme in the current climate by greatly increasing the costs of internal and external managers whilst simultaneously cutting the pensions income of staff under the premise of a contested deficit prediction. Furthermore, the claimants say, the cuts are discriminatory because they disproportionately affect women, ethnic minorities, and staff without secure contracts.
The USS Trustee Board met on the same day, Monday February 28, as the recent judgement. Roar asked the USS Media Team whether it was really legitimate for USS to continue using the pensions valuation when it must be conceded that questions over its legal validity will be refreshed in the coming months. USS recently replied, “The Valuation was signed off in September 2021. At the meeting today, the Trustee board agreed to the deed giving effect to the changes to the member benefits from April 2022 recommended by the Joint Negotiating Committee.â€
The USS has publicly, and potentially rather awkwardly, dismissed the legal action, stating in November it was “comfortable that the challenge – whether in respect of the valuation, expenses or investment – has absolutely no merit.”
When asked if USS will revise or retract this in light of the upcoming High Court case, a USS spokesperson said to Roar: “The Trustee’s view remains that the claim is completely without merit. So far the Court has just been dealing with a procedural aspect about whether beneficiaries are unable to assert a right to step into the shoes of a Company to pursue a claim in the way Shareholders might. The Trustee was therefore not involved today and will make the case that the underlying claims for which permission is sought are completely without merit.”
Being more familiar with libel law than pensions law, Roar will continue to carefully report on this ongoing crisis, including, of course, the freshly approved legal action against USS. The issues are resolved on a local as well as national level, with UCU representatives seeking more impactful and meaningful “engagement” from KCL management on this and other grievances.
