USS update for staff volunteering to reduce their salary

17 Jul 2020

The Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) has made a temporary change to its rules

Colleagues who are taking a reduction in salary as part of the voluntary measures currently available to staff will now be able to choose whether they want to make contributions to their USS pension based on their reduced salary or their previous full pensionable salary, thanks to a temporary change in the USS rules.

Up until now, staff taking a voluntary salary reduction have only been able to make USS contributions based on their reduced salary level but the USS is now giving members more choice about their level of contributions on a temporary basis.

All USS members who have agreed to take a voluntary salary reduction will be contacted by HR colleagues and asked to confirm the basis of their USS contributions. 

If you decide to make USS contributions based on your previous full pensionable salary you can choose whether to make this change from the next possible payroll or backdate your contributions to the first month of your salary reduction.

Whatever pensionable salary level you decide to make your USS contributions at, the University will continue to make contributions to USS based on the level of salary you decide upon.

For members of the Greater Manchester Pension Fund (GMPF) and NHS Pension Scheme (NHSPS), if you choose to reduce your pensionable salary or the salary on which you pay pension contributions, the amount of your pension accrual will be reduced for this period; death and ill health retirement benefits would be similarly impacted. For further details please contact the Pensions Office at pensions@manchester.ac.uk. 

More information:

• You can find FAQs on the voluntary measures on StaffNet