Find out about the disputes over pensions and pay. There’s also a glossary of terms to understand the detail.

Our position on the strike action

The issues some UCU members are striking over – pensions and pay and conditions – are not things we can solve here at Sussex, as they affect most universities and so are negotiated at a national level. Because of this, Sussex only has a small amount of influence over the issues.

This is why our focus is on minimising disruption to you, while letting national negotiators work towards an agreement.

We desperately want an agreement to be found that works for all parties involved so we can continue to deliver the education you are here for.

At Sussex, we have consistently shown a strong commitment to investing in our staff, who are the people who power our university. We spend about £150 million a year (more than half our income) on staff pay, benefits and pensions.

About the USS pension scheme

For staff who are members of USS, we pay an additional 21.4% on top of their salary into their pension. This is significantly higher than the average in this country and we are happy to make this commitment to our staff.

However, the body in charge of looking after the scheme said this year that the amount of money going into the scheme would need to almost double to keep retirement benefits the same in the future. This would cost the University millions and individual staff members hundreds of pounds extra per year.

Universities UK, which represents all universities in the country, has suggested that it would be better to make some changes to future retirement benefits, than to accept these very high contribution increases. UCU has said that it doesn’t agree and has called this industrial action as a result. However, it has not yet tabled an alternative suggestion.

The USS pension scheme remains one of the best pension schemes in the UK, with benefits that far outweigh the majority of schemes across all other employment sectors. We wish to retain this high-quality scheme as it offers a valuable protection to staff in retirement. However, we believe this needs to be balanced in a way that does not severely impact the amount of money spent directly on students. We need to ensure you get value for money from the fees you pay. That also means enabling the University to invest in the campus for the benefit of students for years to come.

About pay and conditions

Every year, UCU and a sector body called UCEA get together to review university staff pay.

This year, UCEA made a final offer to raise pay by 1.5%, which was above inflation at the time, with bigger increases for lower paid staff. This pay rise was implemented across UK universities in August.

Around half of university staff also got another pay rise because, in most university jobs, salaries automatically go up during the first few years in a role.

UCU said that 1.5% was not enough and asked their members whether they wanted to take industrial action to try to secure a bigger rise. They also felt not enough was being done on three related issues: casualisation, workloads and the gender/BAME pay gap.

UCEA and UCU have met a number of times to discuss a sector-wide approach to these three related issues and UCEA has recently repeated its commitment to work jointly on a positive way forward.

In addition, significant progress has been made at a local level. Sussex made a commitment several years ago to remove zero-hours contracts for teaching delivery, in a very constructive approach with UCU. In addition, our plans outlined to close the gender pay gap are progressive, there is no equal pay gap, and there are plans to focus on the progression of BAME staff. This work is being led by our Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Culture, Equality and Inclusion, David Ruebain.


Glossary of terms

ASOS: Action short of a strike (ASOS) typically means staff carry out their core duties but do not take on any additional responsibilities.

JNC: The Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) has the same number of representatives for staff (UCU for both pay and pensions) and employers (UCEA for pay and UUK for pensions). It decides on pay and any changes to the pension scheme, including how any increased costs should be shared. If a vote is tied, an independent chairperson has the deciding vote.

The Pensions Regulator: This is the government body legally responsible for making sure all pension schemes have enough money and are being run well. If they believe that not enough money is being paid in or a scheme is at risk, they have the power to take over management of the scheme and impose higher contributions. Anything agreed by the JNC and the USS Trustee must also be approved by the Pensions Regulator.

USS: The Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) is the largest private pension scheme in the UK and is the main scheme for academic and some non-academic staff in UK universities.

USS Trustee: The group of people responsible for making sure there is enough money in the pension scheme to pay all current and future pensions.

UCU: The University and College Union (UCU) is the trade union representing staff members on both the USS and pay.

UUK: Universities UK (UUK) is the body representing university employers on pensions.

UCEA: The Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) is the body representing university employers on pay.

See more from Industrial action at Sussex