So yer #defenduss.
The UCU delegation came back with a new offer, the same stuff but with a slightly higher accrual rate, some more money from the other side, a higher cap, and promises to use any improvement in the scheme finances to put back the cuts and also to review the valuation methodology. And it looks like two-thirds of one-third of the membership voted for it. One third of the membership that ever received a ballot.
Nobody seems to have any idea about the people who voluntarily put more money in, about what this further review means, or about how the defined contribution fund above the cap would work. On the other hand, nobody had any idea what the UCU’s strategy was if the dispute went on. The marking boycott had already been turned down by a lot of universities and nobody liked it in the first place.
There is now a statutory consultation period, for what it may be worth. The lesson, though, is that negative numbers are scary, and that the UCU can’t manage to send out e-mail. No song, because I’m not feeling it.
Classic asymmetry of power in industrial relations outcome.
Another battle lost, overall.
«Nobody seems to have any idea about the people who voluntarily put more money in,»
Late comment: voluntary contributions cost twice as much as base contributions. If you run the online calculator it turns out that for final salary members the 23.5% total of salary buys 365 days or around 15.5 days per 1%, and the voluntary contributions buy around 8 days per 1% of salary.
I guess this is because 2/3 of ther vbase contribution is nominally paid by the employer and all of the voluntary ones by the employees.
But I must add: the other likely explanation of voluntary contributions being so expensive at least in the final salary section is that the final salary section is hugely rigged in favour of those who have high (grade 10…) final salaries, who get much better ratios between lifetime contributions and retirement benefits.
So one rationale for voluntary contruibutions being so expensive is that they are likely to be made by people with high salaries and thus very expensive for the pension fund.
But conversely those high salaries are subject to higher tax rates, and therefore in terms of after tax cost the voluntary contributions are actually far better value for people on high salaries than low salaries.