Pensions
Further improvements to the New Teachers’ Pension Plan
The Teachers’ Pension Plan (TPP) started a new era on January 1, 2018. This New Plan is a modernization of the TPP that increases the lifetime pension and brings equity for all plan members regardless of working as a TTOC, part-time, or full-time teacher.
Based on actuarial information from the Teachers’ Pension Plan that indicates a surplus, the Plan Partners (BCTF and provincial government) have decided to implement a series of further improvements. Although the surplus and improvements are pending
formal confirmation with pension authorities in late August 2018, Partners have made the decision that the BCTF inform all Plan Members. The information was presented at the March 2018 Annual General Meeting and shared with other representative organizations
(British Columbia Retired Teachers’ Association (BCRTA), BC School Superintendents’ Association (BCSSA), BC Principals and Vice-Principals’ Association (BCPVPA), Plan Employer Partner, and the Teachers’ Pension Board of Trustees (TPBT).
Information may also be found here: https://tpp.pensionsbc.ca/web/teachers/board-communique-march-19-2018.
Starting May 2018, there will be eight regional Pension Information Outreach sessions explaining in detail these further improvements. Each session starts at 4:00 p.m. (unless otherwise noted) and is an hour long. The locations and dates are as follows:
May 7: Victoria, Richmond Elementary School—Gym 2780–Richmond Road
May 8: Dawson Creek, Dawson Creek Secondary Central Campus—Coyote Café 10701–10th Street
May 15: Cranbrook, College of the Rockies —room 250–2700 College Way
May 16: Prince George, Prince George Secondary—Vanier Hall**–2901 Griffiths Ave.
May 23: Kelowna, Hollywood Road Education Centre ―Gym–1040 Hollywood Road
May 28: Langley, Langley Fine Arts School—Chief Sepass Theatre9096–Trattle Street
June 11: Burnaby, Burnaby Central Secondary School―room A206–6011 Deer Lake Pkwy
June 12: Smithers, Smithers Secondary School—Della Herman Theatre–4408 Third Ave
** session to start at 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Pension Information Outreach handout
Pension Information Outreach Powerpoint
Pension Information
Outreach presentation video
2018 AGM Trustees' Pension Report
2018 AGM BCTF Pension Report
New Teacher Pension Plan website available March 2018
In late March your teacher pension plan will have a new website. More searchable and easy to use, it will answer questions about your pension and your pension plan with extra layers of detail for those who want to know more.
Sign in to My Account
On the website, you sign in to My Account to view your service and salary information, name a beneficiary, calculate the cost of buying service for a leave you’ve taken and more.
Take a course
Sign up for a free two-hour workshop to learn more about your pension or take an eLearning course online.
Estimate your pension
The site offers pension estimators that estimate what your pension will be on retirement.
Retire online
When you’re ready to retire, you may be eligible to apply for retirement online. All the information you need is available when you sign in to My Account. The online application walks you through step-by-step instructions, guiding
you through each decision, and allowing you to pause and save your information along the way.
Visit
your new plan website at tpp.pensionsbc.ca.
Information about the 2016 Teachers’ Pension Plan Annual Member’s Benefit Statement
In addition to the 2016 Teachers’ Pension Plan (TPP) Annual Member’s Benefit Statement, the Pension Board of Trustees have included an additional message which requires members to go to the TPP website and logon to My Account to view the message.
For your convenience, the Trustees message is as follows:
Important information about your
earliest unreduced retirement age
Your
2016 Member’s Benefit Statement is based on two sets of rules covering the
period before plan design changes take effect January 1, 2018, and afterwards.
If you see a change in your earliest unreduced retirement age (from your 2015
Member’s Benefit Statement), consider using the pension estimator to calculate
your pension benefit amount at various ages—your pension value may have
increased as well.
Since the 2016 Member’s Benefit Statement is a Teachers’ Pension Plan document, they can be contacted at 1-800-665-6770 for further information. If your current statement shows a later date than in a previous statement for the Earliest Unreduced date,
it means you were projected to have more pension service. Anytime you have more pension service, you have built up a greater pension amount. You are not forced to work any longer or any earlier. To get more accurate information on pension amounts
for any possible retirement dates you have in mind, sign into the TPP portal MyAccount to generate pension estimates to compare these two dates (and any other
dates). I recommend you use this resource in your retirement financial planning.
To aid in members’ understanding retirement, there are recommended support materials that do not require My Account logon:
Pension plan change
In June 2016, the Teachers’ Pension Plan Partners, BCTF and provincial government, agreed upon changes to modernize the pension plan for service starting on January 1, 2018 (the New Plan). If a member retires after January 1, 2018, their pension amount
will be made from two pension plan parts (the Old Plan and the New Plan) each with their respective calculation rules. Please click below for additional information:
2016 BCTF Annual General Meeting
In March 2016, at the BCTF Annual General Meeting the following motion was passed:
That the Teachers’ Pension Plan design change of the pension formula include:
1. delinking from the Canada Pension Plan’s Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings (YMPE).
2. a single accrual rate of 1.85% be applied to Pensionable Service.
3. an Early-retirement Reduction Factor of 4.5% at age 61.
4 removal of the 35-year Pensionable Service cap.
5. an unreduced pension for those with 35 years of Contributory Service.
The Plan Member Partner (BCTF) and the Plan Employer Partner (BC Government) will draft language that will implement this decision. This will be presented to the Teachers’ Pension Board of Trustees to direct Teachers’ Pension Plan (TPP) in its implementation.
Along the way, there will be several levels of checking compliance to pension regulations and tax rules.
The BCTF will continue to provide support to plan members who are in need of pension information. You may contact the BCTF Income Security Division for assistance:
BCTF, Income Security Division
100 – 550 West 6th Avenue
Vancouver, BC V5Z 4P2
604-871-1949, toll free 1-800-663-9163, Local 1949, fax 604-871-2287
E-mail:
vchoy@bctf.ca
Pension seminars
Pension Seminars for members are available from these three presenters:
- BC Pension Corporation
Making the Most of
Your Pension (formerly Your Pension, Your Future)
New to the plan or mid-career? Learn how the decisions you make today can impact your future pension.
Pension Seminar Schedule and Registration
Approaching
Retirement (formerly Thinking About Retiring)
Within five years of retirement? Learn how your pension options can impact your retirement income.
Pension Seminar Schedule and Registration
- BC Retired Teachers' Association
Retirement Planning Workshop: "There's More to it than Money"
Members should contact their
local offices about the workshop.
- BCTF
Contact your local president to inquire about BCTF staff coming to your local to present a full pension seminar and provide a limited number of personal retirement consultations.
Teachers' Pension Plan (TPP)
Teachers' Pension Plan, toll-free 1-800-665-6770, does have your personal pension information, and will answer questions and assist you in teacher pensions related matters.
Please click for the
TPP website which has information on:
- Access your Pension Information Online
- Appeals
- Countdown to Retirement: A Checklist
- Joint Trusteeship
- Pensions & WCB/ICBC claims
- Purchasing general leave of absence
- Purchasing maternity and parental leave of absence
- Tax deducting purchase of service
- Transferring service from another province
Investments
Information related to investments and the Teachers’ Pension Plan can be found at the following links:
Financial Planning for Your Retirement Life
Updated February 2018