The higher education sector has proven its strength through the Covid-19 pandemic, and together we believe that a meaningful USS pension scheme should be possible for members with contributions of 25% - 30%.

There are key changes that need to be made to the USS scheme governance and valuation methodology to secure a future valuation outcome that everyone is likely to support, as set out in the following roadmap.

We believe that the following changes should be affected as soon as practically possible:

i. Formal establishment of a joint valuation forum written into the USS scheme rules, comprising of representatives from the Joint Negotiating Committee (UUK & UCU) and USS. This should be part of the USS governance structure to ensure that its recommendations are formally considered by the USS Trustees, as recommended by the Joint Expert Panel.

ii. The joint valuation forum, once established, should consider whether the valuation methodology recommendations of the Joint Expert Panel that were not adopted in the 2020 valuation should be adopted in the next valuation alongside agreeing reasonable, prudent and evidence-based parameters for the next valuation.

iii. The composition, appointment and accountability of the USS Board should be reformed to help ensure that members’ voices are heard, their interests represented, and the nature of the higher education sector covenant is fully understood. In particular, consideration should be given to changing the Members of the Trustee Company from the Directors to stakeholders in the scheme and/or allowing for election of Trustee Company Directors.

iv. Consideration given to whether the current Chair of the Joint Negotiating Committee’scasting vote is fit for purpose. The way ahead needs to be sensitive to current geopolitical and economic conditions. A route must be plotted to enable the necessary reforms required to deliver a valuation outcome that can have the confidence of USS members and employers. It is important that the next valuation is concluded in the shortest possible timescale to deliver potential benefits to staff and rebuild staff confidence in USS. It is not yet clear whether a 2022 or 2023 valuation represents the optimal route. USS’s investment strategy plays a key role in determining scheme costs. The University of Bristol’s response to the early stage of the USS Trustee’s review of this strategy is in the Annex to this statement. Both the University and local branch of the UCU agree that a significant proportion of the scheme’s assets should be invested in growth assets given thedemographic of the USS scheme members and the strength of the  collective employer covenant.

We also agree that caution needs to be applied in further increasing the leverage of the scheme and that any hedging actions need to be carefully evaluated, costed and implemented during relatively favourable market conditions to avoid locking in cost without a commensuratembenefit to members.

Finally, we also jointly call upon USS to accelerate its divestment from fossil fuel companies within the 48 months that the University, Bristol branch of UCU and Bristol Students Union set out in February 2020.