UK universities and thousands of their staff face increased annual pension costs totalling billions of pounds under proposals to plug an estimated £18bn deficit in the sector’s main retirement scheme.

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The £67bn Universities Superannuation Scheme, the UK’s largest private-sector pension fund, will on Monday lay out a range of options to reduce the burgeoning deficit, which was £3.6bn in 2018.

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These include a proposal to increase the contributions paid by university employers and about 200,000 scheme members to as much as 68 per cent of employee salaries from the current 30.7 per cent.

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The proposal could mean the pension bill for universities already hard hit by coronavirus disruption would more than double from the current £1.7bn per year, with a typical lecturer forced to pay thousands more for the same pension benefits.

In a consultation document to be published on Monday as part of the scheme’s formal “health check”, the USS will advise about 350 employers, which include Oxford and Cambridge as well as other UK universities, that they can reduce the contributions increases if they agree to a number of conditions, including supporting the scheme for 30 years and giving the USS pension priority over new debt.

Read more @Financial Times