Over 250 University of Cambridge employees have signed an open letter in opposition to Trinity College’s decision to remove itself from the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS).

The letter, put forward by the University and College Union (UCU), condemns the proposals put forward by the Council of Trinity College which could have potentially “disastrous” effects on the scheme by undermining confidence is USS.

Last week, Trinity college confirmed it would be buying itself out of the scheme for £30m and setting up its own private pension scheme.

The letter states: “As Trinity itself concedes, the material risk to which the college is exposed through membership of USS is vanishingly small, and the immediate cost of buying out of the scheme very high.

“The threat of withdrawal from the scheme thus seems motivated by a refusal to accept the basic principle of a mutual scheme across higher educational institutions, and to conceive of Trinity’s interests in the narrow terms of its own balance sheet rather than in terms of the wider ecology of education and research in the UK.

“If Trinity chooses to adopt such an attitude, it cannot expect the continued support of other institutions and staff for its own activities.”

UCU added that Trinity’s decision to leave the scheme will reduce the colleges income by 1.5 per cent, in order to avoid “nominal risk”. It is confident if enough fellows express opposition the college’s position can be changed.

The withdrawal will not affect the financial viability of the USS, but the union is worried larger or wealthy employers could be encouraged to withdraw.

Earlier this month, USS put forward three options in the hope of finalising the 2018 valuation, having considered the proposals of Universities UK (UUK) and its members.

Of the three options, two include the same contribution rates which were consulted on earlier in the year, while a new third option, with a contribution rate of 30.7 per cent, is now being offered.

According to the scheme, option one is a fixed contribution rate of 33.7 per cent, while option two is a rate of 29.7 per cent along with “significantly strong contingent contribution arrangements”, USS said it did believe UUK’s proposals went far enough in this option.

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