🚨Job news klaxon!🚨

After 10 rewarding and happy years on the pensions beat with the FT, I am moving to a new editing /
reporting role in the London newsroom.

From next month, I will be covering stories across the breadth of the FT from business
to finance and company news. 1/ I am also very proud to announce I've been appointed a Visiting Fellow with the London School of Economics and Political Science.  This fellowship will see me collaborate with the LSE's European Institute on a series of events from financial journalism to pensions policy.
2/

At GP surgery today, an elderly patient with walking stick arrives at reception, and asks “who am I seeing today pls?”. Receptionist responds you are seeing “X” - only first name given to patient. “X” is listed on doctors on duty” board in the surgery reception. 1/ /2 the elderly patient then noticed a computer monitor - which allows patients to “self check in” to their appointments. He shuffles over to the monitor and starts to check in. At this point, I intervened to say the receptionist has checked him in. He seemed confused.

CAPITA / #USS CYBER ATTACK UPDATE:

I asked #USS a number of questions about the handling of the cyber attack on Capita in March (the business processed pension admin for #USS).

Around 470,000 #USS members have been advised to assume their data was stolen in the Capita hack. A number of #USS members have told me they had not received voucher codes for the free Experian ID theft protection service offered by #USS after the Capita hack, confirmed on May 11. Data likely stolen during the hack included #USS member names, date of birth and NI numbers

A #USS member has reported suspicious activity on her credit file following the Capita data breach. The #USS member signed up to the free ID theft service offered by USS to 470000 members whose data was put at risk by the Capita cyber hack in March. The #USS member - a professor - got in contact with me to raise her concerns about the #USS breach. Upon signing up to the free Experian service, she discovered three online betting companies had made credit checks on her on May 15 - she did not recognise these companies.

Late night drama in the Dutch parliament where Oppositions senators have been attempting to block major reforms which will see the Defined Benefit system move to a riskier Defined Contribution model. The changes will see tens of millions of DB pensions converted to DC. Historic moment in the Dutch parliament as Senators vote on major reforms which will sweep aside the defined benefit pension system for all workers - public and private.

NEW: The giant #USS pension plan has surged further into the black, reporting a £7.6bn surplus at the end of March.

In 2020, the scheme reported a £14bn deficit. The £7.6bn suprlus for the #USS pension plan, with more than 400,000 members, was identified thru
routine monitoring at March end.

The #USS is currently undertaking a full valuation of assets and liabilities. The valuation date is March 31, the same as the monitoring report.

BREAKING: USS, the UK's biggest private sector pension plan, confirms data for 470,000 members may have been hacked during cyber attack on Capita, in March.

More to follow USS, the pension scheme, has just published a message for members stating that personal details, including names, date of birth and National Insurance number may have been compromised during the Capita cyber attack.

uss.co.uk/news-and-views…

NEW: Striking UK university staff have called for the reversal of cuts to their #USS pensions after new data showed the retirement scheme had moved to a £5 billion funding surplus.

More follows: #UCU, the union representing higher eduction sector workers, said #pension cuts which came into force in April will see a typical lecturer lose 35% of their future guaranteed retirement income with losses steepest for those at the earliest stages of their careers.

NEW: The #USS pension scheme, at the centre of an industrial disupte involving thousands of higher education sector workers, showed a £5.6bn surplus at the end of August, according to the latest scheme monitoring update. NEW: The #USS said that a deficit (£14bn) identified in the 2020 valuation, had been "eliminated" as of the end of August with the scheme showing a £5.6bn surplus.

The controversial 2020 scheme valuation led to a range of benefit cuts for tens of thousands of #USS members.

Exclusive: British company pension funds are taking writedowns of up to 30 per cent on their unlisted assets in a bid to clinch "buyout" deals with insurers.

More follows A Financial Times investigation has found private-sector pension funds, serving hundreds of thousands of members, are taking haircuts of millions of pounds on assets taken on to deliver elevated returns but are now blocking “buyout” deals with insurers.

BREAKING: The #USS pension plan has reported a SURPLUS of £1.8bn - nearly 18 months after reporting a £14bn deficit.

The surplus is disclosed in the scheme's June monitoring report published today.

Details to follow In an email today to university employers, Bill Galvin, group chief of the #USS pension plan said the June surplus "provides a basis from which to start discussions with our stakeholders and advisers about what options might be available should this position prove well-founded"

BREAKING: Govt has released further details about a "Green Nudge" trial to be launched in coming weeks and involving some of the UK's biggest pension providers.

Details to follow. More than 160,000 pension scheme members in the UK are to be "encouraged to learn more about making greener pension choices" in a 3-week trial, as part of the UK government's COP26 agenda

Aviva, Smart Pension and Hargreaves Lansdown will deliver the “nudges” to scheme members 2/

NEW: MPs have raised concerns with the Sec of State for Work and Pensions over an alleged 'lack of transparency' of the information it uses to inform policy.

More to follow Stephen Timms, chair @CommonsWorkPen, wrote to Thérèse Coffey, to say a number of organisations & individuals had been in touch concerning further research and information that had not been published by her Dept, despite expectations or previous commitments to do so.

2/

NEW: UniversititIes UK, the employer body for the UK university sector, said “We have not made misleading claims" about the impact of April 2022 pension cuts on members of the #USS. UUK:"It's reasonable for us to conclude in headline terms - using the example personas developed by USS – that reductions in retirement benefits will be in range of 10-18%. We've consistently said members should use the USS modeller to check (their specific) possible impacts."

BREAKING: 68 universities in the UK face a further 5 days of strike action this month over #pension cuts and pay. Staff at the 68 universities this week finished taking up to 10 days of strike action.

UCU, the union, said further strike action was called after employers "forced through pension cuts and refused to negotiate meaningfully over pay and working conditions.

NEW: The CIO of the UK's state-backed NEST pension plan says Russia is now an investment "no-go area"

Mark Fawcett, CIO of NEST, said over the short- and medium-term Russia looked “uninvestable”.

More follows: “People (investors) are going to be very concerned about the respect for international law and property rights in Russia as a result of this action (invasion of Ukraine),” Fawcett told the FT.

“People will be cautious whether at a corporate level or pension fund level."

BREAKING: The #USS trustee board today agreed to proceed with controversial #pension cuts for tens of thousands of #university sector members, effective from April 2022. #USS said: “The Valuation was signed off in September 2021. At the meeting today, the Trustee board agreed to the deed giving effect to the changes to the member benefits from April 2022 in the form recommended by the Joint Negotiating Committee.”

BREAKING: The UK High Court has over-turned a decision to deny legal action by academics against the #USS pension scheme over the handling of the controverisal #2020 valuation. #UCU #USS #UUK

Details follow. The UK High Court set aside a previous court order and allowed a claim by 2 academics who are pursuing legal action against the #USS directors, as well as against the scheme’s chief executive, Bill Galvin, over the 'flawed' 2020 valuation.

BREAKING: An industrial dispute over #pension cuts impacting thousands of university sector workers is set to escalate as employer-backed proposals to reduce guaranteed #pension benefits were ratified today. BREAKING: The University and College Union (UCU) has told #USS university employers to expect more industrial action, including a marking and assessment boycott, after controversial cuts to guaranteed pension benefits were ratified.

BREAKING: The Universities Superannuation Scheme Joint Negotiating Committee has today formally voted to implement cuts to future #pension benefits for tens of thousands of UK university sector staff. The JNC - a body which represents #USS employers and members - passed a controversial package of employer proposals which will see members build smaller pensions in future. The cuts are the focus of current industrial action across dozens of university campuses.

NEW: Pension inflation rises to be lower for thousands of early leavers of defined benefit schemes, following Govt move.

More follows:

gov.uk/government/con… Millions of people in the UK have Guaranteed Minimum Pensions (GMPs).

When an individual leaves a pension scheme early, the GMP they have built up is revalued upwards each year to protect against inflation. The revaluation rate used by some schemes is set by the Govt.