You've just started your job. It's a perfect time to get to know your pension
plan.
About Your Pension Plan
What is the Municipal Pension Plan?
The Municipal Pension Plan is a defined benefit plan, where your pension is
based on your age, your years of pensionable service and the average of your
highest five years of salary (not necessarily your last five years). It is not
based on your contributions to the Plan or on the investment performance of
the Plan’s assets. The advantage of this kind of Pension Plan is that your pension
is paid for your lifetime, and may continue for the lifetime of your spouse
or eligible dependant (depending on the option you choose at retirement).
Who runs this plan?
On April 5, 2001, the Municipal Pension Plan moved to joint trusteeship
with a Municipal Pension Board of Trustees consisting of eight people appointed
by the Plan Member Partners and eight people appointed by the Plan Employer Partners. The Board’s duties include establishing investment policy, recommending changes in benefits and funding policy and directing the application of Pension Plan rules. The Board appoints an independent actuary to assess the Plan’s financial
health every three years through an actuarial valuation.
Click here
to see what your trustees did over the past year!
The Pension Corporation is one of Canada's largest pension benefit administrators, serving the boards of trustees for the largest public sector pension plans in British Columbia, and representing over 440,000 active and retired plan members and more than 800 plan employers.
If you have questions about your pension account, are making retirement decisions,
or have questions as a retired plan member, you will speak with a plan representative
at the Pension Corporation. You can get more information about the Pension
Corporation here.
Joining
How do I become a member?
Enrolment is mandatory for full-time, permanent staff after their probationary
period (unless waived to an earlier date by the employer) and for full-time
staff employed on a continuous basis for one year.
What if I am working part-time?
Part-time employees have the option to enrol if they complete two years of
continuous employment and, in each of two consecutive calendar years, earn at
least 35 per cent of the year's maximum pensionable earnings (YMPE), including overtime
and other payments, exactly as for the calculation of contributions to the Canada
Pension Plan.
Part-time employees can also be enrolled upon resolution of an employer in
accordance with the terms of a negotiated collective agreement.
How much does it cost me? How much does it cost my employer?
As a member of the Municipal Pension Plan, you contribute both to this plan
and to the Canada Pension Plan through automatic deductions from your
salary. How much these contributions are depends on the YMPE. Employee contribution
rates (other than group 5 members) are currently set at:
6.99% of your salary up to and including the YMPE, and
8.49% of your salary above the YMPE.
For group 5 members, rates are currently set at:
8.88% of your salary up to and including the YMPE, and
10.38% of your salary above the YMPE.
Your employer also contributes to the Municipal Pension Plan on your behalf.
Employers contribute at a rate based on the number of employees, their salaries,
ages and occupations. The rate is updated annually.
Benefits
What does a pension plan give me?
If you become "vested," the Plan will give you a lifetime pension,
starting when you retire. After your death, depending on what kind of pension
option you choose at retirement, the Plan may continue to pay pension benefits
to your spouse (if you have one) for his or her lifetime, or to another beneficiary
for a set period, or it may pay a lump-sum payment to your estate.
When do I become eligible to receive a pension?
You are "vested" in the Municipal Pension Plan (which means you are
entitled to a pension commencing at earliest retirement age 55 [50] or later)
after you have accumulated two years of contributory service with some or all
of that service after December 1997. You are also vested if you accumulate any
contributory service after age 60 (55).
When can I retire?
Earliest retirement age for most Municipal employees is 55. However, for police
officers and firefighters the earliest retirement age is 50. Thus, earliest
retirement age is expressed throughout your Guide
for Plan Members as 55 (50).
What will I get when I retire?
If you become "vested," the plan will give you a lifetime pension,
starting when you retire. After your death, depending on what kind of pension
option you choose at retirement, the plan may continue to pay pension benefits
to your spouse (if you have one) for his or her lifetime, or to another beneficiary
for a set period, or it may pay a lump sum payment to your estate.
How can I find out what my pension might be when I retire?
You can use the online
pension estimator to estimate what your pension might be, based on your
current personal information.
We encourage you to attend Your Pension, Your Future, a seminar designed for plan members at the beginning or mid-point in their career. Click here to learn more, view the most current seminar schedule and register manually or online.
