Congress motions

Motion

Motion title

UCU must support the court case to reverse pension cuts

Session

2021-2022

Meeting link

HE Conference

Meeting date

2 June 2022

Status

Passed

Motion

L5

Motion text

HESC notes:

the USS pension was cut on 1 April 2022 by over 30% for a typical university staff member
the 'Save university pensions, and save the planet' was crowdfunded to reverse the cuts for everyone by injunction, and to bring claims against the USS trustees and managers for: discrimination, negligence and general managerial failures
the initial success of this crowdfunding campaign and the willingness of people and UCU branches to fund the campaign, to the value of over £220 000 so far
that the campaign needs to appeal against the recent verdict that it “failed on its merits”.
HESC further notes

the High Court decided on 24 May 2022 that beneficiaries can bring a claim against the USS directors for breach of duty, but did not yet give permission to proceed, based on caselaw from 1843
the QC estimates costs of an appeal at £350,000, and £700,000 to the Supreme Court
UCU accounts for 2021 show £35.27million in the accumulated fund
the pension cuts for many members are over £350,000, there are 200,000 active members, and the total loss from cuts is £18-20bn.
Conference believes:

having an alternative, legal route to challenge USS trustees' scheme management, alongside the UCU industrial dispute, provides the best chance of protecting USS members' retirement security.
Conference resolves:

to call on UCU to financially support this campaign going forward
to use UCU resources to gain additional publicity and political support for this legal challenge
that UCU must back the case publicly by email and social media.

Proposing body

Composite (King's College London (KCL), Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL))

Amended

No

Allocated to

Higher education committee (HEC)

Notes