The majority of pension benefits lost under cuts drawn up by Universities UK (UUK) could be retroactively paid back, returning around £0.5bn to the retirement funds of the 200,000 university staff in the pension scheme.
Employer body UUK forced through a package of cuts in April 2022, which included a cut to pension accrual rates and a cap on protection against inflation. But, under pressure from UCU, the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) trustee has released new information which shows the scheme is in such a healthy position that those lost benefits could be paid back, backdated to April - and still leave the scheme in surplus.
