The pension plans for the RCMP and the Public Service Pension Plan (PSPP) are broadly very similar. They are both defined benefit pension plans with benefits that are almost identical. Members in almost every situation will see a seamless transition from one plan to the other.
On transfer, all of your service will transfer to the Public Service Pension Plan.
- You will retain all of your years of service as well as any purchased service (buyback)
- As long as you remain continuously employed, deemed CMs will be treated as a Group 1 contributors under the PSPP, regardless of your date of hire. This means that:
- Deemed employees, regardless of the date of hire, will keep their existing normal retirement age of 60 years old. You will be eligible for an unreduced pension at age 60 or age 55 with at least 30 years of pensionable service.
- New hires after the deeming date will have less advantageous terms – they will be treated as Group 2 contributors. This means that they will have a later normal retirement age of 65 years old. They will be eligible for an unreduced pension at age 65 or at age 60 with at least 30 years of pensionable service. Since all plans are cost-shared 50/50 with the employer, Group 2 members also have lower contributions.
- If you leave before the deeming date and then come back after the deeming date, you will be treated as a Group 2 contributor.
With the administration of contributions and benefits, very little will change.
Your contributions will remain identical under the PSPP.
Benefits do have some small differences – most are superior in the PSPP although some are inferior:
- Acting pay is pensionable in the PSPP. It is not pensionable in the RCMP plan. It will be pensionable only on a go-forward basis. Acting pay will not be recognized retroactively.
- Retirement eligibility: In the PSPP, there is no 35-year rule as exists right now in the RCMP Plan (unreduced pension after 35 years of service). Both plans have the same normal retirement age for current employees, but in the PSPP, an employee must be at least 55 years old to get an unreduced pension, even if you have more than 35 years of service. This can impact anyone who was hired before age 20 and has worked continuously since then. Under the RCMP plan, this person would be eligible for an unreduced pension before age 55.
- The terms of service buy-back will be better for members under the PSPP. Members will pay 2 times their contributions to buy back pensionable service after certain types of leave without pay.
- Part-time service became eligible pensionable service in the public service as of 1981 and under the RCMP plan in 1986. Any member with eligible part-time service between those years should have an opportunity to buy it back after moving to the PSPP.