Congress motions

Motion

Motion title

Resist attacks on TPS, and support for Southampton Solent - Composite

Session

2025-2026

Meeting link

Annual Congress

Meeting date

27 May 2026

Status

Passed

Motion

34

Motion text

Congress notes:
1. DB Pension schemes, including TPS, represent deferred salary
2. members in FE, including prison educators and those employed by private providers, and HE within post-1992 institutions are having continued membership of TPS threatened or removed, including through fire-and-rehire
3. the recent letter, by UCEA and UUK to the education select committee asking for the ability for HE institutions to opt out of TPS provision
4. the letter sent to all 357 academic staff at Southampton Solent University (SSU) on the 31st March 2026, notifying them of the University's intention to transfer their employment to a sham subsidiary company Solent University Services Limited on the 1st of July 2026
5. the expressed intention of SSU to strip academic staff of their legal entitlements to the Government-backed Teachers Pension Scheme and replace it with a vastly inferior pension from AVIVA.
Congress believes:
a. TPS membership is a cross-sectoral issue
b. continued attacks on scheme membership will weaken the scheme and have wider fiscal ramifications
c. the outcome of the SSU dispute will have profound repercussions for all institutions across both sectors in the UK, and their ability to protect their pension rights
d. the government needs to intervene to ensure the continued availability of TPS for staff across the post-16 sector.
Congress resolves:
i. to lobby government to bring forward the fire-and-rehire protections of the ERA
ii. to work with other education unions to bring a motion about attacks on TPS to TUC congress
iii. that Southampton Solent branch be given the full support of UCU.

Proposing body

Nottingham Trent University, Southampton Solent University

Amended

No

Allocated to

Strategy and finance committee (SFC)

Notes