Law, financialised valuation and the governance of UK occupational pensions: the case of the USS dispute

This article analyses the place and role of valuation in the law of occupational pensions in the UK, using as a case study the specific dispute concerning the USS pension scheme that ran from 2018 to 2023. Defined benefit schemes are legally required to undergo periodic valuations, to determine whether they are running a surplus or a deficit. Based on an understanding of valuation as a social process that is simultaneously shaped by its legal and institutional environment (here UK pensions law), and acts upon that environment (by constructing and implementing a particular understanding of pension rights and relations), the article shows: (1) the central place given to pension scheme valuation by the law, and (2) how the particular approach to valuation and valuation governance mandated under the law are reflective of financialization. It concludes by emphasising the importance of accountability in relation to valuation and the dangers of excessive financialisation.