Glossary of Terms
The Salary Exchange documentation uses a number of terms, the meaning of which may not be immediately obvious. Some of the terms are synonymous and arise simply because it is not possible to change terms which are widely used in employment contracts. These will continue to be used for employees who are not members of USS OSPS or who opt out of Salary Exchange.
Salary Exchange |
The University of Oxford's salary sacrifice scheme for employees' pension contributions. Under Salary Exchange, you give up 6.35% of your Pensionable Salary, your employee pension contributions are reduced to nil, and an additional 6.35% employer pension contribution is made to the USS or OSPS pension fund by the University. This saves National Insurance Contributions both for yourself and the University, with the savings made by the University returned to your employing department through reduced costs. |
|
Salary Sacrifice Scheme |
An arrangement under which you give up the right to part of your pay by agreeing to a variation to your terms and conditions of employment, and you receive a non-cash benefit. The University of Oxford has been successfully operating salary sacrifice arrangements for several years, including a Childcare Salary Sacrifice Scheme and the more recent Bicycle Loan Scheme. |
|
Pre-Salary Exchange Basic Salary Basic Pay Basic Salary Current Contractual Basic Annual Salary |
The annual salary referred to in your original letter of appointment or latest notification of promotion or upgrade. It is defined either by reference to a spine-point value within a published salary scale or as a fixed annual salary that will have been notified to you individually. It is always referred to as Basic Pay on payslips. Basic Salary will continue to be quoted by reference to published spine-point values (or a personal fixed annual rate of pay) notwithstanding your participation in Salary Exchange. Basic Salary will continue to appear on your payslips at its pre-Salary Exchange levels. The 6.35% Salary Exchange adjustment will appear as a separate component under the column labelled 'Payments', with a negative sign. |
|
Revised Contractual Basic Annual Salary |
Your Pre-Salary Exchange Basic Salary reduced by 6.35%. |
|
Pensionable Salary Pensionable Pay |
The amount on which your pension is ultimately based. It is made up of your Basic Salary plus the sum of all other pensionable pay elements to which you are entitled, using the pre-Salary Exchange values in every case. Your Pensionable Salary and all entitlements to benefits under USS or OSPS are unaffected by Salary Exchange. |
|
Other pensionable pay elements |
In addition to basic salary, some employees receive additional earnings components which are pensionable. Under Salary Exchange, all such pensionable pay elements will be reduced by 6.35%. Please note that all pensionable pay elements will continue to be referred to in correspondence and published sources by their pre-Salary Exchange values notwithstanding your participation in Salary Exchange. |
|
Non-pensionable pay elements |
Some employees also receive non-pensionable elements within their total pay. Non-pensionable pay elements are not affected in any way by participation in Salary Exchange and will continue to appear on payslips separately. |
|
Adjusted Salary |
The sum of your Post-Salary Exchange Basic Salary and other pensionable pay elements reduced by 6.35%, plus the full value of any non-pensionable payments you may receive (the latter are unaffected by Salary Exchange). |
|
Take-home pay Net pay |
Your Adjusted Salary minus statutory PAYE and NIC deductions together with any other voluntary deductions (such as season ticket loan repayments). |