The Scottish Funding Council has confirmed that it will provide additional funding for universities to support the change to the Scottish Teachers’ Pension Scheme (STPS) and NHS Pension Scheme employer contribution rates for the period April 2024 to March 2025.

The additional employer pension costs for the STPS pension rose from 23 per cent to 26 per cent from April 2024, while the NHS Pension Scheme employer contribution rate increase from 20.9 per cent to 22.5 per cent from 1 April 2024.

However, the Scottish government has now agreed to provide additional funding of £5.83m for the university sector, with payments to be made in full to universities in February 2025.

The University and College Union (UCU) welcomed the announcement, having previously argued that it was "wrong" for the additional costs to have to be met by the employers when they were as a result of changes by the UK Treasury.

The UCU also welcomed the fact that the announcement recognised that the additional costs borne by universities fell most heavily on the modern, post-92, institutions, with three of these institutions, the University of the West of Scotland, Edinburgh Napier University and Glasgow Caledonian University, receiving over £1m each of new funding.

Commenting on the news, UCU Scotland official, Mary Senior, said “This additional £5.8m of funding, which is targeted at the newer post-92 universities to cover the increased employer pension costs from last April to this March, is welcome and much needed in a sector which is under financial strain.

"UCU had repeatedly called upon the Scottish government to meet the additional employer pension costs for the post-92 universities.

"It is a relief that this additional funding for pensions has at last been provided. We now need to ensure this funding continues for the coming financial year, and the wider under-funding challenges in the sector are addressed.”

Adding to this, UCU general secretary, Jo Grady, said: “"This is a huge win for our Scottish members, their tireless campaigning has helped save the pensions of thousands of university academics.

"Labour now needs to look to Scotland and bring in additional funding to protect staff pensions in post-92 universities across the rest of the United Kingdom."

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