University and College Union (UCU) members have voted “overwhelmingly” to move ahead with pension proposals agreed with scheme employers, in what has been highlighted by the union as a “historic victory”.

UK universities have faced 'unprecedented' strike action in recent years, following concerns that changes to the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) could result in a 35 per cent cut to members' defined benefit (DB) pension.

Initially tabled in 2021, the changes to the USS scheme were agreed in 2022 following concerns that the deficit recorded in the 2020 valuation could result in "unaffordable" pension contributions for both employers and employees.

However, the latest monitoring update from the USS trustee revealed that restoring benefits to pre-April levels will cost less than employers are currently paying into the scheme, with UCU and Universities UK (UUK) having since agreed to prioritise this work.

In light of this, UCU held a two-week electronic consultation in which over 35,000 UCU members voted on the employers’ commitment to prioritise the restoration of retirement benefits, with 85 per cent of members voting to move forward with this work.

Given this, the union has also withdrawn the marking and assessment boycott at universities in the pension dispute, although the rejection of the pay and conditions proposals means a marking and assessment boycott will still be held across 145 UK universities on 20 April.

A meeting of the UCU's special higher education sector conference is scheduled to take place on 19 April to formally decide the next steps in the disputes.

Commenting on the news, UCU general secretary, Jo Grady, stated: “UCU members in their tens of thousands have voted overwhelmingly to move forward with pension proposals agreed with employers which will pave the way for the restoration of benefits.

“When we launched our pensions dispute, university vice chancellors doubted us, and government ministers criticised us.

"We were told it was impossible to win back a stolen pension but today UCU members have proven that it can be done, and we have taken a giant step towards a historic victory that will change lives."

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