26 September 2018 
Karel Thomas, Executive Director
UCEA has alerted member institutions to the indicative results now emerging for TPS and NHSPS, which would bring significant employer contribution increases during 2019. UCEA received indicative results of the 2016 valuation of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme (England and Wales), which suggests that employer contributions will need to rise by 7.2% (from 16.48% to 23.68%). This would be implemented from 1 September 2019 and would be in parallel to an increase in member benefits. UCEA is currently drafting a response on behalf of affected employers. As one would expect and hope, Finance Directors and HR Directors are working together with other colleagues in institutions to model the impact on budgets, financial forecasts and operational plans. BUFDG and UHR are also working together with UCEA to pass on information that will inform the response. If you have not yet done so, please send Karel or Helen Scott (or directly to UCEA) any information you think will be helpful.
This arises from an announcement on 6 September 2018 by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Liz Truss, on the actuarial valuations of the public service pension schemes. As Sir Steve Webb said to the Financial Times, “The change in the discount rate could land public sector employers with a multibillion-pound bill with no guarantee of government funding to help them meet it. The consequence is likely to be a highly opaque squeeze on public services..." MillionPlus has issued a comment which many universities will agree with.
