USS employers, participants abandon plan to move solely to DC

Representatives for employers and participants associated with the £60 billion ($82.7 billion) Universities Superannuation Scheme, London, have withdrawn a proposal to shift to a defined contribution plan in the future.

An announcement on the website of Universities U.K., the representative organization for employers, said it and the University and College Union — which represents participants — had agreed to withdraw the proposal made in January.

The proposed changes included implementing a salary threshold for defined benefits of zero, making the fund a purely DC plan. Currently, participants' first £55,000 of salary is eligible for defined benefit plan benefits, with any further contributions applied to a new DC plan.

The proposal, which the announcement said had been "unpopular," was withdrawn at a meeting of a joint negotiating committee, made up of UUK and UCU representatives, in April.

Neither party proposed an alternative as both are awaiting the outcome of an opinion by a joint expert panel, which was set up to report back on USS' future in September.