THE University of Portsmouth faces the prospect of a strike ballot over plans for a “punitive pension change” that will create a “two-tier” workforce, the University and College Union warned today.

Under the proposals, new workers are to be hired through a wholly owned subsidiary company that will deny them access to the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) and Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS).

These are “drastically inferior” to the industry standard defined benefit pension schemes they will no longer be able to access from August 1, said the union.