University leaders have called on the Westminster government to help “cushion” the sector against impending hikes in pension contributions or they will be forced to cut back on staffing and course provision.
Employers are bracing for a rise in what they have to pay into the Teachers’ Pensions Scheme (TPS) from April next year, with an increase of between five and 10 percentage points possible.
Changes are being made to the government-run scheme after a long review of the mechanism for calculating the likely future cost of public sector pension obligations. The Treasury announced in March that – because of lower official growth forecasts – employer contributions for all those enrolled would have to go up.
Graham Baldwin, the vice-chancellor of the University of Central Lancashire and chair of MillionPlus – which represents modern universities – said, although the final contribution rate is still unknown, every one percentage point increase would cost Uclan £700,000.
