23 September 2024 
Joni Rhodes, BUFDG Project Manager
USS has issued a letter providing information in respect of the funding position of the scheme as a whole, and has been presented in a manner that is intended to comply with the disclosure requirements of FRS 102 Section 28. It is provided to support the production of your HEP's financial statements. It is accompanied by the 'Annex A' Sep 24 disclosure note. The letter is available on the USS website.
USS has confirmed there is no update regarding the High Court’s ruling in the Virgin Media v NTL Pension Trustees II case relating to section 37 and contracted-out defined benefit (DB) scheme amendments at this time, as the legal position is still in question. On the assumption that this may give rise to audit queries in the coming months, the most recent update from USS was in August 2024 as follows:
"We are aware that employers may need to provide a response to their auditors in relation to the Virgin Media vs NTL Pension Trustees II judgment.
Like the rest of the pensions industry, we will be carefully considering any implications of the judgment and any further developments, such as any appeal or legislative intervention by the government.
The issues are detailed and technical. To provide some context, the relevant requirements were in place for almost 20 years from 1997 and not all scheme changes required actuarial confirmations.
And, as above, the legal position may also yet evolve.
It will therefore take time to confirm whether there are any implications for the scheme.
We will update our stakeholders as and when there are any notable developments."
