On the go: Staff at 44 institutions are to walk out once again over planned benefit cuts to the Universities Superannuation Scheme.

The strike is the latest episode in a long dispute between the USS trustee, employer group Universities UK, and the University and College Union over the resolution of the scheme’s controversial 2020 valuation.

The trustee has until the end of the month to submit a schedule of contributions to regulators. Absent a deal, the conclusions reached by the 2020 valuation, which saw the scheme’s deficit quadruple to more than £14bn, could see contribution rates increased to as high as 56.2 per cent of payroll.

UUK reached an agreement with the USS trustee over an alternative solution, pledging greater covenant support and a moratorium on scheme exits in exchange for limiting the rate rises to 9.8 per cent for members and 21.4 per cent for employers, though it is currently negotiating amendments with the USS trustee that would see those figures rise to 9.9 per cent and 21.6 per cent, respectively, in exchange for temporarily dropping a proposed inflation cap.

The UCU rejected the employers’ proposal, arguing that it would see cuts to guaranteed retirement income of as much as 35 per cent for a “typical member”, though UUK has disputed this calculation.

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