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Leading university representatives in England have warned that a sharp increase in employer contributions to pensions next year will lead to significant cuts in student protection support and make it more difficult to recruit staff.
The heads of 80 so-called «post-92» universities and colleges, which are part of the teacher pension system (TPS) and include teachers in England and Wales, are opposed to the reform of state pensions.
From April 2024, SPT member institutions will have to increase employer contributions by five percentage points from 23.6% to 28.6%.
«This makes the viability of institutions already facing financial difficulties much more difficult,» said Raj Jethwa, Director General of the Employers’ Association of Universities and Colleges, at a press conference, organized this week by leaders of higher education.
He added that the schools enrolled in the TPS received support from the Ministry of Finance to cope with the increase in payments, but not the higher education sector.
The 80 affected universities should remain members of the TPS if they switched from state polytechnic colleges to private universities under the Further and Higher Education Act 1992.
