Pensions
Information about the Teachers’ Pension Plan Annual Member’s Benefit Statement
In addition to the 2017 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.
There will be no changes in pension calculations for current service up to and including December 31, 2017. The annual Member’s Benefit Statements (MBS) from TPP, sent to members in May–June will not show any change of service until a full year of service
in the new plan has occurred. That is, the new service will be reflected in the MBS issued in May of 2019 for the first full year in the new plan, 2018.
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 presenters:
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.
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
2015 BCTF Pension Consultations
From September to December 2015, the BCTF visited Locals and School Districts seeking input on possible pension plan design changes with an online survey. Access to the survey closed on Monday, December 14, 2015. Based on the consultations, the BCTF Executive
Committee (EC) made a recommendation to the 2016 AGM. For details on the proposed changes, EC recommendation, supplementary report, consultation presentation, and support materials, please
click here.
Information about Teachers’ Pension Plan 2014 Member’s Benefit Statement
The Teachers’ Pension Plan (TPP) provides member benefit statements (MBS) annually. For additional information of how job action affected your 2014 estimate and how to adjust details going forward
click here.
Teachers' Pension Plan (TPP)
The BCTF Income Security Division, 604-871-1921, toll-free 1-800-663-9163, does not have your personal pension information, but will answer questions and assist you in teacher pensions related matters.
Please click for the
TPP website which has information on:
- Appeals
- Access your Pension Information Online
- 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 2017