Higher education pension cuts

That this House expresses its alarm at the growing number of higher education institutions deploying approaches which are having a negative impact on the pension schemes of academics and staff, including through fire and rehire proposals and other approaches tantamount to forcing workers onto worse contracts, terms and conditions; further expresses alarm that such actions have triggered trade disputes at institutions such as Southampton Solent and Northumbria universities, where staff are facing threats of dismissal and permanent pay freezes, respectively, unless they agree to pension cuts; insists that using subsidiary companies to circumvent employment rights and to undermine pay, terms or conditions is unacceptable behaviour that simply serves to negatively impact industrial relations further in a sector already suffering from mass redundancies and industrial action; calls on the Office for Students immediately to investigate institutions accused by trade unions of undermining pension rights to establish whether they are failing in their duties, including those relating to good governance and protecting the interests of students; and further calls on the Government to take urgent steps to prevent pension cuts and a race to the bottom in higher education provision, including through legislative change if necessary.