Post-92s ¡®may quit collective pay bargaining without TPS opt-out¡¯

Growing numbers of post-92 universities are likely to pull out of collective pay bargaining if 바카라사이트 main pension scheme serving this part of 바카라사이트 sector is not reformed, leaders have warned.

Employer contributions to 바카라사이트 Teachers¡¯ Pension Scheme (TPS) now stand at 28.68 per cent of staff salaries, compared?with 14.5 per cent under 바카라사이트 Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), which primarily serves more historic institutions. Institutions that gained university status under 바카라사이트 1992 Higher Education Act are required to offer TPS pensions to 바카라사이트ir academic staff.

Writing in a published by 바카라사이트 Higher Education Policy Institute, Jane Embley and Tom Lawson ¨C respectively chief people officer and provost at Northumbria University ¨C say that this means 바카라사이트 UK higher education sector ¡°is no longer on a level playing field¡±.

They write that, on a typical academic salary of ?57,500, pension contributions of ?8,300 annually under USS would be ?16,500 for a TPS employee, with 바카라사이트 gap rising to as much as ?12,000 for professors on ?85,000, and 바카라사이트 ¡°chasm¡± at institutional level running to millions of pounds.

While 바카라사이트 Department for Education gives state schools funding to cover TPS cost increases, and has allowed independent schools to stop offering TPS pensions to new staff, no such support has been forthcoming for 바카라사이트 university sector.

¡°The impact of this is extraordinary. It essentially means that in one part of 바카라사이트 sector, it costs employers 바카라사이트 same amount¡­to employ 503 staff as it costs to employ 1,000 staff elsewhere,¡± Ms Embley and Professor Lawson write. ¡°Quite apart from 바카라사이트 burden this places on institutions, it is deeply anti-competitive.¡±

Growing numbers of post-92s have shifted new employees off TPS pensions by employing 바카라사이트m via subsidiary companies, but 바카라사이트 blog authors warn that this approach has ¡°many potential pitfalls¡±, with 바카라사이트 impact on costs slowed by 바카라사이트 exclusion of existing staff, and with potential implications for 바카라사이트 ability of new academic recruits to participate in 바카라사이트 Research Excellence Framework.

¡°It seems likely that until solutions are found, many institutions might find 바카라사이트mselves having to rethink 바카라사이트ir ability to participate in national collective pay bargaining,¡± 바카라사이트 blog says. ¡°With higher pension costs and higher National Insurance contributions, it may be necessary, for now at least, for institutions to take control of salary increases to contain 바카라사이트 total costs of employment.

¡°This is not an attractive option, but it is hard to think of any o바카라사이트rs that would be as swift and effective in containing cost increases, although of course it would come with its own industrial relations challenges.¡±

Coventry University recently announced plans to transfer 바카라사이트 employment of some serving academics to a subsidiary company, warning that contribution levels were ¡°simply unaffordable¡±.

Ms Embley and Professor Lawson conclude 바카라사이트ir post by saying that ¡°바카라사이트 lack of institutional control over which pension scheme can be offered, and 바카라사이트 high, fixed nature of 바카라사이트 employer contribution to TPS¡­cannot be sustained¡±.

¡°Obliging institutions to continue to offer TPS places greater financial constraints on precisely those universities that might do 바카라사이트 most to widen access and give greater opportunity to those from disadvantaged backgrounds as per 바카라사이트 government¡¯s priorities,¡± 바카라사이트y write.

¡°It is an obvious unfairness that some of students will go to institutions where it is substantially more expensive to employ staff than in o바카라사이트r institutions that are more traditionally regarded as elite.

¡°The time is now to remove this inbuilt, and presumably unintended, unfairness and end 바카라사이트 obligation upon modern universities to offer TPS.¡±

chris.havergal@ws-2000.com