In August last year over 1700 other people raised more than £50,000 to fund a legal action against the USS directors via Crowdjustice.
The case was presented by a barrister at an initial oral hearing at the High Court on 28 February and the judge ruled that we can proceed to the next stage – a full contested hearing. This stage has been successful. That judge ruled that we have a prima facie case and that we were acting in good faith. Thank-you to everyone who has contributed.
We now need to raise funds for the next stage, the full contested hearing. This will begin on 28 March. If we are successful at the next hearing, we will be able to proceed with the legal action against the directors, which may be paid for by USS Limited (the company that runs our pensions). We have four claims:
- That the 2020 valuation was flawed and unnecessary
- USS costs are excessive
- The changes discriminate against women, younger and minority colleagues
- The USS has failed to have a credible plan to divest from fossil fuels, and this causes significant financial detriment
If you can donate just £50 or £20 it will make a huge difference. The current pensions cuts leave many of us £100,000’s worse off in retirement. If we win, we could get an injunction against the cuts that will happen on 1 April.
However, to proceed with the next hearing, we urgently need to raise more money to cover the legal costs of the full hearing. So we would be very grateful if you could contribute to our crowdfund. Time is short, so if you could donate as soon as possible we would greatly appreciate it!
If there is any money remaining in the crowdfund after the legal action is complete, we will use it for further legal action over the USS, for example, seeking judicial review of The Pensions Regulator. If there are no further legal options, or we get everything we want (a reasonable valuation, a cost-effective pension scheme, a pensions proposal that is not discriminatory, and divestment from fossil fuels), then we will donate any remaining funds to a charity.
We have 3 weeks to save the pension, so please donate now, and share with everyone you know!
To do
- Please donate to our crowdfund
- Please share this with anyone who might be interested, or tweet the crowdfund page
- Ask your UCU branch to contribute to the fund
- Register and join our Zoom Q&A on Friday 11 March at 1300
Posted on behalf of Ewan McGaughey and Neil Davies