University of Bradford staff are to go on strike for two days this month in a dispute over pensions.

Proposed changes to the University Superannuation Scheme (USS) pension fund has riled lecturers working at universities across the country. Sixty-three UK universities have voted to take action.

Members of the final salary occupational pension scheme pay 6.35 per cent of their salary and the employers pay 16 per cent. Under the changes, the employee will contribute 7.5 per cent and there will be a freeze on the contribution of employers.

The normal retirement age would move to 65 for all active members and then to at least 68 when state pension age changes come into effect.

The University and College Union (UCU) said it has until Thursday to thrash out differences with employers if industrial action is to be avoided.

Union members at both Bradford and Leeds University have announced they intend to begin the first of two days of strike action on Tuesday, March 22.

Five days earlier, colleagues at universities in Scotland are striking before action in England, Wales and Northern Ireland on March 18, 21 and 22. A UK-wide strike is planned to follow on Thursday, March 24.

UCU members of the pension scheme held strike ballots at 63 universities last week. Overall, two-thirds voted for strike action and over four-fifths voted for action short of a strike.

The union said it was hopeful the first national strike action in universities for five years can be avoided, although the employers this week rejected UCU’s invitation to meet for talks through the arbitration service ACAS.