Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of potential merits of indemnifying the Universities Superannuation Scheme against university bankruptcy.

The Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) is a private pension scheme, and government has no role in relation to the USS beyond regulation as applied to all work-based pension schemes by The Pensions Regulator.

The government has no plans to underwrite the USS, which is one of the country’s largest pension schemes. It has nearly 400,000 members, along with sizable assets and liabilities. The cost to the taxpayer of underwriting such a scheme could be significant, and any further government involvement in supporting the scheme would need to be considered very carefully.

The government remains concerned about the impact of industrial action called in response to proposed reforms to the USS. I have spoken with both Universities UK and the University and College Union to encourage them to continue to talk, as this is the most appropriate route towards resolving the dispute.