Newcastle University

At its meeting on the 9 June 2011 the USS trustee board considered an amending deed to the rules of USS containing the proposed changes in their final form as decided upon by the Joint Negotiating Committee at its meeting on 10 May 2011. 
 
The trustee board confirmed that it was content with the final form of the deed, which will be effective from 1 October 2011.

A summary of the changes is available on the USS website.

The USS is preparing information for current members, and for eligible employees who are not members, to be distributed in the coming weeks.
 
Revised Benefit Modeller

The USS has also recently revised its Benefit Modeller.  The modeller now performs the following calculations:-

• the benefits already built up at the calculation date (31 March 2011);
• a projection of the benefits at age 65;
• a projection of early retirement benefits from age 60 (incorporating the early retirement reductions for post 1 October 2011 service for non-exempt members);
• a projection of benefits based on a retirement age later than 65;
• the death-in-service benefits at the calculation date;
• an estimate of how much of the Annual Allowance is likely to used up in the current Pension Input Period; and
• the cost of buying additional service by AVCs.

All members will be able to carry out a basic check to see if they are likely to exceed the Annual Allowance in 2011/12.

Exclusions

The modeller is not an exact tool and is based on a series of assumptions, for example it assumes the employer has given its consent for early retirement between age 60 and 65 in respect of pre – 1 October 2011 service. It also assumes that the Norma Pension Age will increase to 66 from 1 April 2020 but no further increases are included. It also only uses the first 3 of any added years AVC contracts. It is not suitable for members:-

• already 65 or over;
• with MHO status;
• subject to a pension sharing order;
• who are absent or on suspended membership;
• with variable time employment; and
• with capped service.