Thread by @felicitycallard

In case you haven't yet read @gailfdavies' fantastic tweets on the role of consultants in embedding a particular vision of 'flexible retirement' as the norm in universities, start with tweet below & then follow the tweets -- & links -- to the present #ucustrike #ussstrike

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Inspired by @gailfdavies & @CLIVEYB's reflections, I've been thinking about how to understand the last decade or so in terms of discourses & practices around risk, collectivity, flexibility etc. in relation to university pensions #notallgeographers #USSstrike #ucustrike 1/

I've been tracking through the docs on pensions available on Universities UK website. Oldest document appears to be "Strategic enquiry into the pension arrangements for the higher education sector" published 2007 universitiesuk.ac.uk/policy-and-ana… 2/ #ussstrike #ucustrike

This reported a consultation with HE institutions. (Incidentally, it was carried out by Hewitt Associates, "a top three benefits consultancy in the UK and the largest global provider of complete human resource solutions".) It covered a range of areas. #ucustrike #ussstrike

As well as questions on "cooperation or competition" (Qu. 4), there was a question on risk sharing (Qu. 14) #ucustrike #ussstrike

The report says that this question received the "most startling response" of all the 20 questions. And here are the results #ucustrike #ussstrike

So in October 2007, it was 'startling' (at least for Hewitt for Universities UK) that across the Russell Group/1994 Group/Campaigning for Mainstream Universities etc. there was such consistency on moving towards 'risk sharing'. #ucustrike #ussstrike

I infer there must have been heterogeneity in the discourse around pensions. Hewitt was expecting more than 1 HE institution to endorse the status quo (where 'all of the inherent risks associated with pension provision fall to the institutions') #ucustrike #ussstrike

But look at those 3 zeros at the 'counterpoint' end: it's not just the 'pure' defined contribution option that was, then, anathema for those filling out the consultation #ucustrikes #USSstrike

While a lot of rather big things happened economically & politically btw October 2007 & today, we need to explain (in order to combat) the really big shift to ideological convergence around DC pensions in space of a decade #ucustrike #ussstrike

So the next report is "Pension provision in the higher education sector: initial report" (prepared by an actuary and director of an independent trustee company). It comes out in June 2008 (i.e. shortly before the banking crisis) universitiesuk.ac.uk/policy-and-ana…

This report makes it clear that money purchase provision (DC schemes) is off the table, since there is "little [university] employer appetite for such a large-scale transfer of risk to the members" #ucustrike #ussstrikes

Things then go quiet on the Universities UK website in terms of pension reports. USS is radically redesigned in 2011 and we are now moving towards the total closure of the final salary pension in 2015. #ussstrike #ucustrike

The next Universities UK pensions document I can locate is a consultation paper issued some time in 2014 #ucustrike #USSstrike ox.ac.uk/sites/files/ox…

This consultation provides updates following a previous UUK consultation on USS's future funding (which concluded March 2014). [I can't locate this consultation.] It mentions the commissioning of Aon Hewitt to advise on potential benefit reform options #ucustrike #ussstrike

Aon Hewitt identified potential benefit packages (extension of Career Revalued Benefit (CRB) scale for all members, hybrid model incorporating career average & defined contribution (DC) elements, and single DC scheme), which UUK reviewed (p.3) #ucustrike #ussstrike

Universities UK in the consultation recommend the hybrid model, & make clear the there is only luke-warm support for a DC scheme. Though they do note a 'significant minority' of institutions [which ones?] that endorsed move to DC in earlier UUK consultation #ucustrike #ussstrike

So in 2014 -- well into the never-ending aftermath of the 2008 economic crisis -- there is no ideological coherence in the universities sector around the need for a move to DC (and away from the by-then dominant assumption that risk should be shared) #ucustrike #USSstrike

We now need to turn to what @gaildavies has already unearthed on the UCEA site -- specifically the June 2015 event: "Pensions in 2015 and beyond – a shifting landscape" ucea.ac.uk/en/seminars/ev… #ucustrike #ussstrike

It looks as though this event -- where one of the key presentation is Aon Hewitt's "DC v DB: what the public understands" -- might well have helped shift a previously strong DB orientation in & around universities (see @gailfdavies's tweets on this) #ucustrike #ussstrike

By the time we reach "Suitability & sustainability: pensions in the higher education sector" (published August 2017), all rhetorical guns are firing for DC #Ucustrike #ussstrike universitiesuk.ac.uk/policy-and-ana…

We are informed that while 'offering a DB scheme is not uncommon in universities around the world, many ... are DC only. For example, the top universities in the United States predominantly offer DC pension arrangements.' (p.13) #ucustrike #USSstrike

There are 60 instances of "flex". And no surprise as to how the term flexibility shifts around. [I mean, the social sciences have been studying this for decades.] Look at how it's embedded as a central desire amongst both employers and (some) employees #ucustrike #ussstrike

Particularly insidious is the way in which 'low to moderate earners' and 'those in the early stages of their career' (#precariat, anyone?) are positioned discursively as supporting the need for a shift away from DB #ucustrike #ussstrike

Fav sentence in this document -- and notice the verb *CHOOSE* #precariat #ussstrike #ucustrike

The sole evidence provided to back up that claim (see p.29 of report) is -- #facepalm -- Price Waterhouse Coopers' "Millennials at Work: Reshaping the Workplace", which I shall leave braver souls than I to look through pwc.de/de/prozessopti… #ucustrike #ussstrike

So where have we got to? In 10 yrs, there was a profound ideological shift from final salary to shared risk (DB) to DC pensions. Key year appears to be 2015 (& 2016?). But as a social scientist, I'm still puzzling over how best to account for this #ucustrike #ussstrike

Searching for #socsci literature that might help, I came across this (sorry: #paywall), which tries to account for why DB schemes in the UK suddenly declined #ucustrike #ussstrike

While I'm not convinced by a lot of the theoretical apparatus in this article, I'm intrigued by their focus on the role & importance of consultancies (e.g. see p. 779)

The article suggests that -- in a situation where those making the decisions about pension funds often are often not that knowledgeable about them -- the advice of consultants can be particularly effective in generating what then becomes a herd mentality #ucustrike #ussstrike

[An aside: Geographers might be curiously interested in this sentence, and its reference (#historyofgeography #recursive)] #ussstrike #ucustrike

So, while the Bridgen & Meyer article is interesting, I think we as #geographers & other social scientists can do (and undoubtedly have done) much better in explaining what's going down #ucustrike #ussstrike

Time to sign off (remembering cutting my teeth as an economic geographer) & to call out to the many fab economic geographers/pol economists, incl. @alisonstenning @JanePollard13 @bceagle71 @_paullangley. Huge thanks to @gailfdavies #notallgeographers

#ucustrike #ussstrike