OXFORDmagazine No. 305 Fifth Week Michaelmas Term 2010 Most readers will already be aware Moreover, USS is open to the charge of the current proposals to reform of not having provided adequate in- USS (Universities Superannua- formation for members to come to tion Scheme). The proposals would reasonable conclusions. As Cooper potentially have effects across the Cutting and Cowley make clear, many of the board, including current pension- possible implications need still to be ers, present employees now paying spelt out. 6.35% of their salaries to USS and fu- pensions affects But how are decisions about the ture employees of the University. As future of USS being made? USS mem- Susan Cooper and Stephen Cowley bers in each pre-1992 university show here, the effects will almost all us all across the UK are, as far as USS is be negative; they involve increased concerned, represented by the UCU contributions and significantly re- (University and College Union). The duced prospective benefits. Some review of the pension scheme started, of the possible implications are pretty frightening. For amidst the banking meltdown, two years ago. The re- example, inflation is now rising and, if it returns to the view was conducted by the Joint Negotiating Committee levels seen in the 1970s, the combined effects of the pro- of USS which consists of five UCU representatives (Ox- posals could cut the pension received over 20 years by ford’s Terry Hoad is one) and five from the employers well over 50% compared to present entitlements. The side (i.e. primarily consisting of university registrars, proposals are now out for “consultation” with a dead- among them the Registrary of Cambridge University). line of 22nd December. The consultation with USS mem- The Committee ended up deadlocked on the reforms, but bers is tightly delimited in scope and form since responses these were adopted on the casting vote of the independ- are restricted to the answering of specific questions. ent Chairman, Sir Andrew Cubie, a specialist in Corpo- rate law and Chairman of the Committee of University Two issues back there was a notice seeking expres- Chairmen for all UK Universities. The Board of Trustees sions of interest from members of the University who accepted the recommendations and initiated the present might be willing to lend editorial assistance to the consultation. Magazine. I did not receive a single name! Among There are particular implications for Oxbridge. In the many likely explanations for readers’ inaction both universities the proportion of UCU members is is the possibility that they assumed that plenty of remarkably small – in Oxford some 15% of eligible ac- other people would be stepping forward. This notice ademics and academic-related staff. The UCU is an of- repeats the call. The Board of the Magazine is seek- ficially recognised union at Oxford; through the Joint ing expressions of potential interest in helping the Consultative Committee, the UCU represents its views Magazine, without specific commitment entailed. If to the employer side, including on matters of salaries you value the Magazine and might be willing to as- (although by convention the University in effect follows sist in the editorial process please let me know national guidelines on pay). In Cambridge the union is ([email protected]). Tell your friends. not recognised and has no formal status underwriting communication with the employer side. The bizarre situ- INSIDE • Future university funding • Pensions reform • Library changes • Privatisation Page three Page eight Page thirteen Page fourteen …and much more Oxford Magazine Fifth Week, Michaelmas Term, 2010 1 ation therefore arises that the great majority of staff have ductions in predicted pensions. Most post-1992 univer- no democratically constituted channel by which to make sities are not in USS: transfers between the two parts of formal representations to their employers, in whose the university sector will not be made any easier. name USS is established. One of the less-than-helpful consequences of all this is that the additional informa- - support staff at Oxford have an Oxford-only, and in tion on the reform proposals and a set of alternative pro- one or two respects more generous, pension scheme, posals prepared by UCU* have not been made available which is currently also being reviewed; but they are af- to the majority of USS members – the convention is that fected by USS because above a certain grade they become Wellington Square will not assist distribution of UCU “academic-related”. material beyond the UCU membership. The end result is - perhaps most importantly of all, one should not forget that USS members have only been given the USS version the future of the universities. A less favourable pension of the story. scheme will be just one of the current changes (notably However, Oxford and Cambridge are both demo- the Browne reforms) that will threaten the attraction of cratic institutions, and there are other ways in which USS the best possible recruits to an academic career. members can make their views known. Cambridge (in the person of the Vice-Chancellor) has expressed some * * * of the concerns in writing to the USS Trustees. It is un- derstood that the supplementary information requested Not only is there a dearth of adequate information from USS has not been provided. In Oxford a motion has about our individual pensions prospects; there is also lit- been tabled for Congregation. It should not be forgotten tle available evidence that reforms are necessary at all. that Oxford and Cambridge Colleges are also USS em- A convincing case, with numbers, is yet to be produced. ployers and it might be hoped that they can independ- Cooper and Cowley point out how conditional judge- ently petition on our behalf. Other UK universities are ments about the health of a pension fund are on timing, not so fortunate. the date of valuation exercises, investment policies, etc. The stock market is at present storming ahead; it is quite * * * possible that the fund is currently in surplus. As the re- cent USS Annual Report put it: “The Board is confident Whatever the merits of the intended reforms, it is in- that its long-term funding plan remains appropriate...... tolerable that the processes by which these proposals the fund continues to have a positive cash flow (because are being presented to us are so blatantly inadequate. As the fund receives more in contributions in a year than it Cooper and Cowley explain, we are embroiled here with pays out in benefits), which leaves it in a much stronger complex calculations and predictions. Almost every di- position relative to many other schemes in the UK.” USS mension of the current USS scheme would change if the is the second largest pension fund in the UK. It is seen as reform proposals are put into practice. The implications a model of its kind. Just as UK universities are independ- for every individual will be quite different, depending on ent, non-governmental institutions, so with the pension age, grade, career path, etc. However, the following gen- fund they created; USS is under no obligation to follow eral points stand out: the pension trends elsewhere. All of which begs the ques- tion of exactly how urgent these reforms really are. We - current employees would contribute more; 7.5% of sal- have the right to be told and to understand much more ary instead of 6.35%. about the assessment of risks and the basis of the con- - future pensioners would experience pension reductions servative investment policies of the fund. due to a cap on inflation protection. “Significant cuts in Government spending on univer- sities have just been announced. These seem certain to - existing pensioners would experience pension reduc- have serious consequences for Oxford: it seems highly tions due to application of the CPI rather than RPI as in- unlikely that the University will be able to sustain current flation proofing. staffing levels...The University....wants everyone to be aware...of the fact that those who part company with the - the defined age of retirement is to be increased; incom- University after January 2011 will do so on very much ing (anti-ageism) legislation will make the point of re- less generous terms.” This is the message contained in tirement flexible (and therefore open to management a recent (UMIS) circular sent from the Head of Person- appraisal); early redundancies are increasingly likely due nel Services inviting early retirements. Now is hardly to government spending cuts. The reforms will adversely the time for a reasoned consideration of far-reaching affect some employees caught up in these trends. changes in pensions. By definition, pensions are matters of and for the long-term, and the present moment is ex- - mobility between jobs, countries or institutions are (de- ceptional in so many ways. We need more time and more sirable) defining features of the career paths of most aca- information. demics, especially in the sciences and for contract staff: under the reforms most breaks of membership of USS of t.j.h. more than 6 months will entail several new forms of re- * http://www.ucu.org.uk/index.cfm?articleid=4598 The next issue of Oxford Magazine will appear in eighth week 2 Fifth Week, Michaelmas Term, 2010 Oxford Magazine Higher education: striving for excellence in changing times Sir ALan LanGLands This article is an abbreviated version of the Hands Lecture The essence of the Browne Review delivered by Sir Alan Langlands, Chief Executive of HEFCE, at Mansfield College on 25th October, shortly The Browne review was set up by the previous (Labour) after the publication of the Browne Review and the Government with support from the Conservatives to: Government Spending Review, and the lecture cites figures from these Reviews.