Thread by @martin_oneill

This looks like good news from @TPRgovuk, opening the door to a #USS deal on the basis of the Sept 2017 valuation involved in the initial @UCU recovery plan, if only the remaining hold-out VCs will accept this. 1/x

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But we should in any case beware one kind of mistake which comes from treating @TPRgovuk as some unmovable exogenous constraint on a #USS deal. (1) The #tPR view itself is in part a function of VC’s avowed positions on risk levels. 2/x

And, (2) as @AdamJTucker has pointed out, there is a good degree of flexibility in how @TPRgovuk operates, and its regulatory framework allows space for appropriate intervention from the government. See embedded thread:

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3/x

Two things worry me about the role of @TPRgovuk. Firstly, given its apparent role in precipitating & prolonging an avoidable crisis in #USS, its communications are wholly inadequate. It’s twitter feed is useless, and its chief exec, Lesley Titcomb, maintains a frustrating silence

Given the hundreds of thousands of working hours loss, the implications for students, and the worry about our future livelihoods, it’s nowhere near good enough for #tPR to communicate only by sparse Delphic pronouncements delivered to @JosephineCumbo @FT (great though she is!)

This raises a question of whether #tPR is fit for purpose. Is it under-resourced? Or is it just badly run?

Given the lack of public information of scrutiny, we just don’t know, but it’s clear that something isn’t right @TPRgovuk.

#USSstrikes #USS #StrikeForUSS

And so to a wider set of worries. Every party involved in this avoidable #USS crisis is marked by questionable governance, and a worrying lack of public scrutiny.

@UniversitiesUK is a hopeless shambles; @TPRgovuk a shadowy presence that won’t make its own case in public

But the largest mess in terms of governance is #USS itself. So much of the future of #USS depends on whether its trustees really promote the interest of scheme members, or whether they are more likely to promote the conventional wisdom of the financial services industry.

On how the crisis of #USS is part of a wider pattern of inadequate pension governance in the UK, set up to benefit extractive rent-seeking middle-men rather than pension holders themselves, see Christine Berry @oeufling here:

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Members of #USS would hope that the USS Trustees and Chief Executive would take a strong and robust stance in dealing with the regulator @TPRgovuk , esp. given the special features of #USS as a scheme. Has this happened, or are there conflicts of interest. Esp. worrying is...

Especially worrying are the possible conflicts of interest of #USS chief exec Bill Galvin, who was previously chief exec of the #tPR @TPRgovuk. (Before that he was a DWP civil servant involved in the design of the #tPR regulatory system.)

More follows...

Bill Galvin is paid £566,000 by our #USS pension fund, but does he have the interest of scheme members at heart? Does he take a robust & constructive approach to interactions w/ #tPR? Or does he, as a former regulator, have conflicted loyalties?

We have a situation where there are many people, not just Bill Galvin, getting very rich directly from our pension fund, but who is defending the interests of #USS *members* at #USS? (There are other #USS employees earning over £900k from *our* fund.)

It is in short a grotesque scandal that a £60 bn pension fund, run ostensibly for the benefit of its members, operates with such minimal public information, minimal outside scrutiny, minimum engagement w/ members. Without even a Twitter account.

#USS as an organisation is making some of its own employees, such as Bill Galvin, very rich indeed. Don't these people getting rich on *our* money owe us more in terms of engagement? More in terms of information? More in terms of defending *our* interests?

With #USSstrikes running on, that fundamental questions are now being asked. It's now clear that we need to take #USS, #UUK *and* #TPR out of the shadows. These institutions that decide on matters of fundamental importance for our lives can no longer exist in secluded corridors.

For too long, those actually funding #USS have been locked out, ignored and marginalised. We may even have been taken for a ride.

We need to #democratizeUSS. Just as #WeAreTheUniversity, #WeAreUSS.

#USSstrike #StrikeForUSS #USSstrikes #UCU #UCUstrikes #UCUstrike

Ends

unroll

Here's the @threadreaderapp version of my thread on the Pension Regulator @TPRgovuk and #USS.

I hope that the issues on the governance of these institutions get more discussion.

#USSstrikes #StrikeForUSS #NoCapitulation #WeAreTheUniversity #UCUstrike

threadreaderapp.com/thread/9740323…