University of Portsmouth to prevent staff accessing Teacher's Pension Scheme

From Thursday 1 August, Portsmouth intends to employ all new staff through a wholly owned subsidiary company that will deny them access to the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) and Teacher's Pension Scheme (TPS), enrolling them on a drastically inferior defined contribution scheme instead. The punitive pension change comes just months after the university put almost 600 (597) staff at risk of redundancy.

UCU said that the university is trying to create a "two-tier" workforce and that it will enter into a trade dispute over the issue, laying the ground for a potential strike ballot.

All post-92 universities, including Portsmouth, offer TPS and LGPS to their staff, but in a meeting with the union Portsmouth management said the pension costs are "not affordable". Portsmouth's move to employ staff through a wholly owned subsidiary company comes after the Conservative government increased the TPS employer contribution rate by 5% (from 23.68% to 28.68%).

UCU continues to call on the government to provide additional TPS funding to post-92 universities, as it has done for schools and colleges. After a long campaign by UCU members, last year the University of Falmouth brought staff, formerly employed through a subsidiary company, in-house and onto the TPS scheme.

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: 'Portsmouth management is trying to tear up nationally agreed terms and conditions in its attempts to create a two-tier workforce. Pensions are deferred pay and it is completely unacceptable for the university to try to leave industry standard schemes by the backdoor.

'These punitive changes are even more intolerable as they come on top of the drastic cuts to staffing the university is also trying to push through. Our members at Portsmouth are furious with the lack of respect management is showing its workforce and they have the full backing of the union in any industrial action they choose to take.

'We have a new government that has said fixing the higher education funding crisis is a day one priority. To avoid a race to the bottom in terms and conditions, Labour now needs to match the support given to schools and colleges and fund the increase in employer TPS contributions.'