TODAY lecturers at the University of Southampton will begin a boycott of marking in a national row over pensions.

Members of the Universities and College Union were due to begin an indefinite period of industrial action that will see them boycott marking and refusing to set exams.

University and College Union (UCU) members were balloted in 69 UK universities over proposals to change pensions.

The union says proposals to change the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), which covers some of the UK’s oldest universities, would leave members worse off, with pensions cut by up 27 per cent.

The University of Winchester and Southampton Solent University are not affected.

The proposed pension changes were put forward by Universities UK, which says they are necessary to deal with the USS’s £8 billion deficit.

However, Dr Eric Silverman, president of the UCU in Southampton, said: “We are having to take this stand early on in the process to show our support for the national negotiations that are under way.

A University of Southampton spokesman said: “We are committed to do all we can to ensure that our students are not disadvantaged by such action.”