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Sam Marsh Profile picture
@Sam_Marsh101
May 18 • 4 tweets • 4 min read Twitter logo Read on Twitter
Wow! Monitoring figures for 31 March 2023 drop from @USSpensions, and show a *£7.6bn SURPLUS* and pre-cut benefits costing *just 21.8% of salary*! Expect these figures to change in the full valuation, but we're bang on track for a historic win. #ucuRISING ddlnk.net/2PRX-1DZUI-BF5… We have, today, published t...
@USSpensions I think @RedActuary and Derek Benstead of @FirstActuarial deserve a huge amount of credit for pointing out that time would be strongly in our favour in this story, proved absolutely right.
@USSpensions @RedActuary @FirstActuarial Just think about what was 'supposed' to happen: we should have rolled over in 2018 because of "tough economic realities" (or some such phrase), only now would the surplus have appeared, and employers would have told us that the matter was settled. We didn't let them. #ucuRISING
@USSpensions @RedActuary @FirstActuarial Shout this from the roof-tops! Your non-striking colleagues, who walked past your picket lines and undercut the action, need to know that your efforts saved one of the major benefits of working in UK HE. #ucuRISING

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More from @Sam_Marsh101

Sam Marsh Profile picture
Feb 23
No announcement from @USSPensions, but the Joint Negotiating Committee has a new independent chair, Akbar Khan, replacing previous interim chair, Judith Fish. That's three key posts (chair of trustee board, CEO, JNC chair) with different holders going into the 2023 valuation. 1/
Of course, @Barker4Kate joined as chair of the board partway through the 2020 valuation (though it was Eastwood's hawkish board that set the tone for it) and Galvin hasn't yet exited, but last I heard he was due to leave by the end of March. 2/
There has been a major overhaul of the board membership since the 2020 valuation began, most noticeable in the change in independent directors. Some ultra conservative hawks from the city are gone. (Wish I had a before-and-after! Current board below.) 3/
Read 5 tweets
Sam Marsh Profile picture
Feb 22
A year ago today, I was party to what I hope is the biggest stitch-up I'll ever see close up: the pushing through by the JNC of a savage cut in future accrual in @USSpensions based on an self-evidently unsound valuation rooted in pandemic-induced market turmoil. 1/
It was awful. Nothing was fair or right about the decision taken that day. The scheme's rules had been bent, probably breached, by @USSPensions to skew things in favour of @UniversitiesUK, who themselves lied to their members about @UCU's counter-proposal to ensure it sank. 2/
We hoped that the JNC chair might be receptive to the charges we laid about process, but the legal advice they received gave the all-clear. That legal advice couldn't answer the key question we posed about @USSpensions apparent rule breach, but that didn't seem to matter. 3/
Read 12 tweets
Sam Marsh Profile picture
Nov 22, 2022
Based on our experiences last summer, one way to bust this threat from VCs lies with line managers/HoDs. Ask them daily "here's my work plan for today: am I in breach of contract if I work in this way, and, if so, shall I go home with no pay?". Make them send you home.
If they don't send you home, they may struggle to deduct pay.
Members who are line managers/HoDs may like to push the problem up the chain, of course.
Read 5 tweets
Sam Marsh Profile picture
Oct 14, 2022
❓Did you know❓Earlier this year, @USSpensions proposed a new investment strategy to employers that would ramp up their leveraged liability driven investments (LDI). Yes, that's the very strategy that's in the news for having caused major problems for pension schemes... 1/
The claim from USS in a message from @Barker4Kate to employers is that they've weathered the storm (so far). This is believable, because their cashflows are much easier to manage than in closed schemes, and they may not have got far ramping up the leverage when the crisis hit. 2/ Image
But this has all the hallmarks of a bullet dodged. You wouldn't know it from outgoing (🙏) CEO Bill Galvin's message to employers at the end of last month, which seemed to paint their new strategy as their saviour rather than the potential pitfall. 3/ Image
Read 9 tweets
Sam Marsh Profile picture
Mar 2, 2022
Why am I so angry about what happened at the @USSpensions JNC last week? Because the way #USS concluded the 2020 valuation was not in accordance with the scheme rules and undercut @UCU's influence on the JNC, possibly permanently. You need to know about this. 1/
The Joint Negotiating Committee is an oddity, unique among UK pension schemes. It was a hard-won concession extracted by the union during the formation of the scheme in the 1970s. If the misapplication of the rules by #USS is allowed to stand, I believe it is effectively dead. 2/
One of the key functions of the JNC is to grapple with the outcome of bad valuations, where it has to decide on benefit changes and/or contribution rate splits. #USS presents the JNC with a price, and negotiation begins. Or that's how it's supposed to work. 3/
Read 14 tweets
Sam Marsh Profile picture
Feb 20, 2022
Suppose you run a pension scheme, and conducted a valuation in the middle of a pandemic which showed the need for savage cuts. How do you hide the fact that since then the scheme has strengthened dramatically? Here's how. #USSmess #USSstrike 1/ (Graph courtesy of @USSpensions)
1. Stop publishing data
@USSpensions were publishing monthly data, but stopped with their Aug 21 figures. Why? They say they were working on a new system.
We forced them to publish updates this week they planned on keeping to themselves until June. 2/ uss.co.uk/about-us/valua…
2. Explain away improvements with broad-brush arguments
"Assets have increased, but so have liabilities".
"Deficits are down, but future service costs are up".
"Higher asset prices mean lower expected returns".
Enough! Just show us the numbers! 3/ (Below @Barker4Kate in THE)
Read 10 tweets

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