Thread by @MikeOtsuka

Why is @imperialcollege parroting #USS's manifestly irrelevant response to the claim that they have misrepresented @TPRgovuk? 1/

https://twitter.com/NJSHardy/status/1106420075505090560

See this 👇. 2/

https://twitter.com/MikeOtsuka/status/1103331815803273216

The above claim 👆regarding "'Gilts-plus' basis" forms a part of #USS's "response" to the following blog post of mine👇. 3/
medium.com/@mikeotsuka/on…

Below I explain why #USS's response is irrelevant. 4/

In my blog, I said #USS misrepresented @TPRgovuk when they wrote this: 'the final discount rate adopted for the 2017 valuation of gilts + 1.20% is still above the level the Regulator views as appropriate for a “tending-to-strong” covenant' (p. 13, Jan valuation). 5/

Here USS represented @TPRgovuk as maintaining that it would be appropriate for a scheme with a covenant that is "tending-to-strong" to adopt a discount rate that is lower than gilts + 1.20%. 6/

Such representation is flatly contradicted by the following sentence in @TPRgovuk 5 March Annual Funding Statement: 'We do not assess the appropriateness of schemes' TPs or discount rates based on predetermined relationships to gilt yields or other indices' (p. 5). 7/

Note that the issue of whether #USS has misrepresented @TPRgovuk on this point has NOTHING TO DO with the question of how, exactly, #USS constructs its discount rate – whether via a gilts-plus, a best-estimate-minus, or some other valuation methodology. 8/

In the light of this, I hope @imperialcollege HR now sees that they are parroting an irrelevant claim of #USS & modifies their webpage accordingly. I hope @ImperialUCU (including their VP @TomPike00075908) encourages their HR to do so if necessary. 9/

Since we see that #USS's irrelevant response to the claim that they have misrepresented @TPRgovuk has misled at least one major #USS employer, which is in turn misleading its members... 10/

...it is essential that #USS now set the record straight & retract their claim that my blog post involves "a fundamental misunderstanding to think that the approach USS has taken in constructing the discount rate in the valuation is based on a ‘Gilts-plus’ basis". 11/

If #USS executives will not retract this claim of their own accord, the #USS trustee should instruct them to do so, in order to insure that scheme members are not fed misleading information by the executives they oversee. 12/

Scheme members depend on you, as trustees, to hold your executives to account for such misrepresentation. 13/13

👆@ucu @mattwucu @AlistairJarvis @JoanneSegars @SallyBridgeland @BrinleyDavies @Sam_Marsh101 @Flibitygibity @carlomorelliUCU @HershMarion @Dennis_Leech @DaveGuppy @UofGVC @adamtickell @RedActuary @Derek_Benstead @kevinwesbroom @GuyCoughlan @USSbriefs @JosephineCumbo @Wonkhe