Thread by @Sam_Marsh101

UPDATE! Last week I tweeted about modelling I'd done of the #USS valuation using cashflow data provided to me by USS. I couldn't release my workings because USS told me not to share their data. 1/

@USSbriefs @OpenUPP2018 @ForPension @JosephineCumbo

https://twitter.com/Sam_Marsh101/status/1031546816037306373

After writing my thread, I sent a plea asking USS to reconsider allowing me to release the data, which is nothing more than four columns of numbers relating to projected cashflows for the next 100 years. I even asked for a lesser permission of sharing with the JEP alone. 2/

I'd had no reply by Thursday, so sent another email, this time saying I'd take silence to mean it was OK for me to send the spreadsheet on to the JEP. After all, JEP members have been made to sign NDAs, and they probably already have their hands on similar data. 3/

Guess what? At 9.06 on Tuesday morning, I got an email from USS saying "the trustee board have not agreed that cashflow information should be made public" and their "position is unchanged". 4/

Further, as the legal agreements with the JEP only cover material provided to them directly by #USS, I was asked not to provide the "confidential information" to the JEP. 5/

So: the JEP can ask for the data I've got. I can provide them with the spreadsheet that uses it. But they'll have to copy and paste the data in themselves, and won't be able to check with me that it's gone in the right place and all is working. Brilliant! 6/

This is very cagey behaviour by #USS. The question is: is it coming from the executive (Bill Galvin and co) or from the trustee board (David Eastwood et al) or from both? Your guess is as good as mine. 7/

But wherever it's coming from, it's not a good look, especially at a time when trust is very low and, one would think, the integrity of the JEP process needs to beyond doubt. 8/

So now a challenge: I made a video explaining the workings of my spreadsheet. In it I blanked out #USS's "confidential data". Using the sheet I made public with dummy data, can you reverse engineer the cashflow columns to make the sheet complete again? 9/

If so, post here for the world to see! 10/10

END

PS #USS confirmed that my liabilitiy figures are "reasonably consistent with [their] calculations". Also, "the trustee's valuation methodology does not require the projection of assets based on current contribution rates" so they have not "sought to confirm these figures". 11/10

In other words, #USS are claiming ther haven't even bothered to ask themselves whether the assets are likely to be within the touching distance of self-sufficiency at Year 20, confirming that not only is Test 1 broke, but USS are doing their utmost to avoid realising it. 12/10