Strike threat as Strathclyde University seeks to replace LGPS fund
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Non-academic staff at Strathclyde University could go on strike as the university has proposed to stop offering Local Government Pension Scheme membership to current and future employees.
Union Unite is balloting about 350 university employees who are members of Strathclyde Pension Fund – including technicians, cleaners, security and estates staff – on strike action, after the university proposed moving current and new employees to the Universities Superannuation Scheme. Workers risk losing “thousands of pounds a year”, the union said.
Regional coordinating officer Alison MacLean said there was a £100m pension surplus, adding: “It is a reckless cash grab on a pension surplus that our members have funded to allow the university to improve its short-term financial position.”
Union Unite is balloting about 350 university employees who are members of Strathclyde Pension Fund – including technicians, cleaners, security and estates staff – on strike action, after the university proposed moving current and new employees to the Universities Superannuation Scheme. Workers risk losing “thousands of pounds a year”, the union said.
Regional coordinating officer Alison MacLean said there was a £100m pension surplus, adding: “It is a reckless cash grab on a pension surplus that our members have funded to allow the university to improve its short-term financial position.”
MacLean suggested the university should assess its property portfolio and executive pay instead of pensions. Unite claims principal and vice-chancellor Sir Jim McDonald made about £400,000 in 2023, and that average staff pay has gone down by £7,400 in real terms since 2019.
“Unite will fight this inch by inch and through prolonged industrial action if necessary,” she said about the pension proposals.
“Unite will fight this inch by inch and through prolonged industrial action if necessary,” she said about the pension proposals.
A spokesperson for the University of Strathclyde said: “The university is committed to providing an excellent pension provision to its staff and is currently considering a change of pension provider for some colleagues.”
A decision about the pension proposal has not yet been made, the spokesperson noted, adding: “Having engaged in extensive consultation over many months, we are disappointed the trade union has chosen to ballot its members on industrial action, rather than to put our enhanced pension proposal to its members.”
The proposals come as Strathclyde University sees contributions to the LGPS shoot up from 6.5% to 17.5% of salaries from April next year, subsidised from surplus. The cost of providing benefits for future service was calculated as 21.9% of pay, to fund benefits with a 1/49th accrual rate. Strathclyde Pension Fund as a whole was 147% funded at the 2023 valuation, with an £8.9bn surplus.
Derek Benstead, a senior consultant at First Actuarial, said the strong covenant of the LGPS means it can carry investment risk and keep contribution levels relatively low considering the level of benefit provided.
However, “one issue for employers managing their costs is simply that LGPS benefits are very good. 21.9% employer contribution to a 1/49 of salary CARE scheme is good value, but some employers might rather pay a lower contribution for a lower benefit, e.g. 13.4% for 1/80," he noted.
The proposals come as Strathclyde University sees contributions to the LGPS shoot up from 6.5% to 17.5% of salaries from April next year, subsidised from surplus. The cost of providing benefits for future service was calculated as 21.9% of pay, to fund benefits with a 1/49th accrual rate. Strathclyde Pension Fund as a whole was 147% funded at the 2023 valuation, with an £8.9bn surplus.
Derek Benstead, a senior consultant at First Actuarial, said the strong covenant of the LGPS means it can carry investment risk and keep contribution levels relatively low considering the level of benefit provided.
However, “one issue for employers managing their costs is simply that LGPS benefits are very good. 21.9% employer contribution to a 1/49 of salary CARE scheme is good value, but some employers might rather pay a lower contribution for a lower benefit, e.g. 13.4% for 1/80," he noted.
Strikes led to better offers in the past
Another Scottish higher education institution, the University of Dundee, climbed down from a proposal to close its pension scheme to accrual and put in place a defined contribution scheme in 2021, following five days of strikes and intervention by Scotland’s First Minister. A subsequent proposal to close the scheme to new entrants, while increasing retirement age to 68 and lowering the accrual rate for existing members, led to another four weeks of strikes.
At the Universities Superannuation Scheme, the sector-wide scheme for academics, prolonged strikes led to employers eventually agreeing to a new scheme valuation, which resulted in benefits being restored to their old level.
