Thread by @felicitycallard

I am still following UUK, Employers Pension Forum (ucea.ac.uk/en/empres/pens…), Aon around. Still fascinated by how futures are made. #ucustrike #USSstrike

This time I'll excerpt from 2 documents stored on the UUK website: universitiesuk.ac.uk/policy-and-ana… & universitiesuk.ac.uk/policy-and-ana… NB Both still carry a 'confidential' watermark, but there isn't any firewall #ucustrike #ussstrike

We know from recent events that UUK isn't always the most technologically proficient. Maybe they forgot to take the watermark off. Maybe they forgot to put them behind the firewall. Who knows. #ussstrike #ucustrike

From the document properties, you can see that both are dated 26 September 2016. universitiesuk.ac.uk/policy-and-ana… universitiesuk.ac.uk/policy-and-ana…

They both provide a nice follow on from the UCEA "Pensions in 2015 & beyond – a shifting landscape" event in June 2015 that @gailfdavies reported on, which featured the presentation 'challenging the “DB good, DC bad” viewpoint" #ucustrike #ussstrike

The first doc is on for the "Employers Pensions Forum (EPF)1 USS Town Hall Event
HE Pensions strategy: drivers and objectives"; the second is on "USS Mutuality: Flexibility of pension cost and provision – an introduction". #uccstrike #ussstrike

They should be read in conjunction with (& are footnoted in) the "Development & Background to UUK/EPF Guiding Principles" doc (Feb 2017) ucu.group.shef.ac.uk/wp-content/upl… that @MikeOtsuka has discussed here medium.com/@mikeotsuka/ox… #ussstrike #ucustrike

These briefing docs for the town hall meetings are prepared before the USS valuation (Sept 2016) and, as all good briefings do, orient both the topics & framework for discussion. Flexibility, unsurprisingly, features strongly #ucustrike #ussstrikes (excerpt from Paper 1)

The documents operate in full anticipatory mode - making it clear that it's not yet possible to know the scale of the USS deficit (the valuation will take place 6 months hence). They exhort their readers: "options need to start being considered by employers" #ucustrike #ussstrike

Employers! Don't confine your horizons simply to the possibliity of making higher employer and/or employee contributions -- let them soar higher:
#ucustrike #ussstrike 2)
 the actuarial inputs and assumptions made by the trustee and contributing to the views to be considered as part of USS’s decision-making in this area
 altering the levers, etc." src="/images/1px.png" data-src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DXyclKjXkAITott.jpg">

Am reposting since I left off initial phrase:

"employers & representatives should consider:"

(p.8 Paper 1). universitiesuk.ac.uk/policy-and-ana…
#ucustrike #ussstrike

Note the helping hand of Aon, which will craft these futures in more detail:
"Each of these options will be set out in more detail by UUK’s actuarial advisors Aon at the town hall meetings in order to help employers understand the opportunities and challenges they each present"

Right after the final town hall event, there will be a web survey 'seeking institutions’ views on options available'. The sector needs to decide whether to keep the status quo 'or alternatively make more fundamental changes to the current framework' (p. 8) #ucustrike #ussstrike

Paper 1 one closes with a reminder of what to be thinking about in advance of the town hall events #ussstrike #ucustrike:

i.e. that the objectives EPF is working to are: cost control, understanding reward and increased flexibility (p. 10)

#ucustrike #ussstrike

So, UUK/EDF do what they say they'll do. They run the town hall events. Aon help out. Delegates represent 89 USS employers & cover over 83% of USS active membership. They run a survey in October. 115 USS employers respond. (ucu.group.shef.ac.uk/wp-content/upl… p. 2) #ucustrike #ussstrike

And when UUK/EPF report the findings, they are able to provide quite a bit of supporting evidence in relation to their guiding principle on flexibility (ucu.group.shef.ac.uk/wp-content/upl… p. 9) #ucustrike #ussstrike

And here's what happens when they get to their guiding Principle 5 "Employees should have more choice and control over their pension contributions and benefits" (refer back to other tweets from @gailfdavies & me on choice & control):

#ucustrike #usstrike

The employers don't just want 'more flexibility' for themselves. They also believe that employees - *that's you buddy* (whether you already have your USS pension or whether 'a USS pension is not a suitable option' -- should have 'more choice and control over their pension saving'

They want to be able 'to offer alternative pension benefits to those w affordability concerns' & to 'those on short/fixed term contracts'. You can't change that world it seems; but you can give those 'w affordability concerns' & precarious contracts 'alternative pension benefits'

2 quick & obvious reminders:

1. We know where flexibility, choice, and 'alternative pension benefits' are heading.

#ucustrike #ussstrike

2. Social scientists know, from the very first methods class they take as an undergraduate, that if you brief your respondents well (in both written and oral form) before they take your survey, well ... you know where this is heading, too.

#ucustrike
#ussstrike

[And now a quick & deep lament that the Masterclass in Social Research that I convene for Masters students at Birkbeck would, right now, today, just have finished, and it was cancelled because of the need to be on strike.] #ussstrike #ussstrike

& also to urge those of you interested in the discourse around 'mutuality' & 'last man standing' (Happy #IWD2018 , BTW, everyone) in relation to #USS to read Paper 2 (currently marked 'confidential' & not behind a UUK paywall) here: universitiesuk.ac.uk/policy-and-ana… #ussstrike #ucustrike

Now, to finish up this thread ... Earlier today @Philip_Roscoe published a fabulous blog post, "Deficit, what deficit? The politics of financial fact", which you should all read philiproscoe.net/2018/03/08/def… #ucustrike #ussstrike

In that post, he speculated that after the pensions regular intervened in October last year, "UUK took the opportunity offered by the regulator’s intervention to back the large minority of respondents in calling for an end to defined benefits" #ucustrike #ussstrike

And now I speculate: if UUK did indeed take that opportunity, you could go back a number of years & find quite a lot of stuff that you might be able to use to back up that call by UUK to end DB #ucustrike #ussstrike

OK, I'll call it a day, w 2 last asides #ucustrike #ussstrike

1. I am coming, reluctantly, to the conclusion, that Twitter deciding to extend the number of characters in tweets has been helpful to the #ussstrike #ucustrike

2. I am tempted to copy @UniversitiesUK in, since I kinda want to know if it they forgot to remove the watermarks, or they forgot to put their docs behind a firewall universitiesuk.ac.uk/policy-and-ana… universitiesuk.ac.uk/policy-and-ana… #ucustrike #ussstrike

#techguru
Happy #IWD2018