Yes, your employer is entitled to make deductions from your pay if you participate in industrial action, including most forms of ASOS.

If the ASOS called consists solely of ‘working to contract’, then an employer cannot impose pay deductions when you are fulfilling your contract; where the union calls ASOS that goes beyond ‘working to contract’ and involves refusal to undertake particular contractual duties, such action involves members breaching their contracts of employment.

While an employer cannot lawfully dismiss an employee for participating in ASOS where that action and the consequent breach of contract is covered by a legal industrial action ballot, an employer can refuse to accept ‘partial performance’ of the contract, and to deduct pay in response to that breach of contract.

Deductions can be up to 100% of pay while you are participating in ASOS (with any work done being deemed to be undertaken on a voluntary basis), although to impose such deductions would be highly punitive and the union would consult members over escalating industrial action in response.

UCU has produced guidance for branches in response to threats of ASOS deductions (100% deduction or partial deduction). Please contact scotland@ucu.org.uk for more information.

If you are on maternity or parental leave, or any form of long-term absence, please contact scotland@ucu.org.uk for more information.

Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS): members taking strike action will see their scheme membership ‘paused’, but the scheme rules allow for members and employers to keep paying into the scheme for these affected days. In previous strikes it has been the experience of UCU that most employers do continue to make pension contributions and therefore participation in strike action has not generally affected members’ pension benefits. Should the employer choose to withhold contributions, the scheme rules are clear that continuity of membership is not broken but pension benefits will not accrue for the days in question when membership is paused.

Teachers’ Pensions Scheme (TPS) / Scottish Teachers’ Pensions Scheme (STPS): usually strike days are counted as ‘days out’ meaning that they, in effect, become invisible. You do not accrue reckonable service and you will not pay contributions for strikes days, but your pensionable service is not broken.

It is not possible to buy back those days lost but members may wish to increase their pension by buying ‘additional pension’ or additional voluntary contribution (AVC) arrangements.

Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS): In a similar way to TPS, you do not accrue reckonable service during strike days. You can, however, buy back those days by paying Additional Pension Contributions. The cost of purchasing the additional days would fall on you unless your employer agreed to contribute. Further details can be found here.

From time to time, individual employers seek to intimidate staff by saying that if they should die while taking strike action, they will not receive a death in service payment.

Teachers’ Pensions Scheme (TPS) regulations are explicit on this matter and do not allow for this to be case. In fact the TPS website clearly states that TPS ‘members remain covered for the “in-service” death grant if they die while on strike’.

For members in the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS), as with TPS, you remain an active member of the scheme whilst on strike action and therefore under regulations entitled to death in service benefits. For both TPS and LGPS death in service is calculated on normal pay.

The situation in the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) is different and if your membership is ‘paused’ (as above) you will be classed as a leaver for life cover and ill-health retirement. This means what you or your family members get will be based on what you have built up (without any enhancements). You can choose to pay a special contribution to keep your full life cover and ill-health benefits while your membership is paused. This would mean you will be entitled to these as if you were still paying into USS. If you wish to do this, you will need to speak to your employer and arrange with them how to make the payment.

You should notify UCU if you are threatened in this way and your local branch will take the issue up on your behalf.

All industrial action—other than ‘working to contract’ as part of action short of a strike—is a breach of your contract of employment. As UCU has carried out a statutory industrial action ballot and the action has been formally called, the law protects workers from dismissal while taking part in lawful industrial action or at any time within twelve weeks of the start of the action and, depending on the circumstances, dismissal may also be unfair if it takes place later. This kind of dismissal has never happened in higher education.

Yes, your employer is entitled to deduct your pay if you participate in industrial action. For strike action, the union contends that any deduction should be at 1/365th of any annual salary or equivalent. For part-time staff or those employed on a session-by-session basis, deductions should only reflect the pay normally due for the work not undertaken and no more.

UCU members can perform their own calculations and estimate how much of their pay might be deducted, by using online tools such as The Salary Calculator. Members can insert their own tax code (which usually appears in their pay slips), student loan repayments, pension contributions (for example TPS or USS contributions), and other details. Please note that users may need to look under ‘Additional Options’ to obtain the 1/365th of annual salary or equivalent.

UCU believes that any strike deduction must be pro-rata for part-time staff. The deduction must only be for your contracted hours. Please contact your UCU branch for support in challenging any greater loss.

If you are on full pay during a phased return to work, then deductions for strike action should be made at 1/365th of annual salary or equivalent.

If you are only being paid a percentage of your salary for your phased return to work, then UCU believes that any strike deduction must be pro-rata. Please contact your UCU branch for support in challenging any greater loss.