Public service pension at a glance

Table of contents

• Eligibility to participate in the public service pension plan
• Age at which you can receive an unreduced pension benefit
• Contributions
• Pensionable service (current and buyback)
• Retirement income from the public service pension plan
• At age 65
• Types of pension benefits
• Protection from inflation
• Survivor benefits
• Life Events for Plan Members
• Further Information

Eligibility to participate in the public service pension plan

As a full-time or part-time employee (minimum 12 hours per week), you are covered by the pension benefit provisions under the plan:

• from your first day at work, if you are appointed on an indeterminate basis;
• from your first day at work, if you are hired for a period of more than six months; or
• after six months of continuous employment, if you were originally hired for a period of six months or less.

Age at which you can receive an unreduced pension benefit

The date when you become a participant of the public service pension plan determines when you will be eligible to receive an unreduced pension benefit:

• If you were participating in the plan on or before December 31, 2012, you are eligible to draw an unreduced pension benefit at age 60 with at least two years of pensionable service (or age 55 with 30 years of pensionable service); or,
• If you begin to participate in the plan on or after January 1, 2013, you are eligible to draw an unreduced pension benefit at age 65 with at least two years of pensionable service (or age 60 with 30 years of pensionable service).

Contributions

You and your employer both contribute to the plan.

As a public service pension plan member, a portion of your salary goes toward your pension through payroll deductions. The portion of your salary that goes toward your pension depends on when you began paying into the pension plan.

If you started paying into the pension plan after December 31, 2012, you’re eligible for an unreduced pension at age 65, or age 60 with 30 years of service. You pay lower contribution rates because you work 5 years longer in general before you can retire with an unreduced pension, compared to those who started paying into the plan before January 1, 2013, who are eligible to receive an unreduced pension at age 60, or age 55 with 30 years of service.

Current contribution rates and the year’s maximum pensionable earnings (YMPE) amount can be found on the Contribution rates for the 3 major public sector pension plans page.

Pensionable service (current and buyback)

Pensionable service means the complete or partial years credited to you at retirement. The period during which you contribute to the pension plan is called current service.

You can also add eligible prior service in order to increase your pension. To do so, you can do one of the following:

• buy back service for eligible periods of prior employment. See the Service Buyback Package for more information; or
• transfer the actuarial value of accumulated pension benefits from another employer’s plan through a Pension Transfer Agreement.

You can accumulate up to 35 years of pensionable service in total.

A Pension Transfer Agreement is an agreement negotiated between the Government of Canada and an eligible employer to provide for the transfer of pension benefits from one pension plan to the other.

For more information on Pension Transfer Agreements, the types of service eligible for buy back, or to learn what you need to do to transfer the value of pension benefits or to buy back service, contact the Government of Canada Pension Centre or refer to Increasing Your Pension as soon as you join the public service.

Retirement income from the public service pension plan

The public service pension plan provides for the payment of a lifetime pension payable until your death and a temporary bridge benefit payable until age 65.

Generally, the formula for calculating your pension is as follows:

Lifetime pension

Your annual lifetime pension is based on your average salary of your five consecutive years of highest paid service and your years of pensionable service, as follows:

Figure 1 - Text version

1.375 percent^{Figure 1 - Note a} multiplied by your average salary up to the Average Maximum Pensionable Earnings^{Figure 1 - Note b} multiplied by your years of pensionable service (maximum 35 years)

plus

2 percent multiplied by your average salary in excess of the Average Maximum Pensionable Earnings multiplied by your years of pensionable service (maximum 35 years)

Figure 1 - Notes

Figure 1 Note a

This percentage applies if you will reach age 65 in 2012 or later, i.e. you were born in 1947 or later. The percentages if you were born before 1947 are indicated below:

• Before 1943: 1.300%
• 1943: 1.315%
• 1944: 1.330%
• 1945: 1.345%
• 1946: 1.360%
• 1947: 1.375%

Return to Figure 1 note a referrer

Figure 1 Note b

AMPE or Average Maximum Pensionable Earnings means the yearly maximum pensionable earnings set by the CPP/QPP for the year of your retirement and the four preceding years.

Return to Figure 1 note b referrer

If you retire before age 65, you will also receive a bridge benefit. This temporary benefit helps "bridge" your pension until age 65 when the CPP or QPP unreduced retirement benefit is expected to begin. However, the bridge benefit will stop immediately if you become entitled to CPP or QPP disability benefit.

If you retire after age 65, you will only receive the lifetime pension; the bridge benefit will not be paid.

The bridge benefit is calculated as follows:

Bridge benefit

Figure 2 - Text version

0.625 percent^{Figure 2 - Note c} multiplied by your average salary up to the Average Maximum Pensionable Earnings multiplied by your years of pensionable service (maximum 35 years)

Figure 2 - Notes

Figure 9a Note c

This percentage applies if you will reach age 65 in 2012 or later, i.e. you were born in 1947 or later. The percentages if you were born before 1947 are indicated below:

• Before 1943: 0.700%
• 1943: 0.685%
• 1944: 0.670%
• 1945: 0.655%
• 1946: 0.640%
• 1947: 0.625%

Return to Figure 2 note c referrer

At age 65

At age 65, you will continue to receive your lifetime pension. If you were in receipt of the bridge benefit, it will end on the first of the month following your 65th birthday as you would be eligible to apply for an unreduced CPP or QPP retirement benefit.

Your total pension income (your public service lifetime pension plus your CPP or QPP pension) at age 65 will be approximately the same as the amount you received from the lifetime pension and bridge benefit before age 65.

The following graph represents if you retire before age 65 and apply for CPP or QPP benefits at age 65 (age when unreduced CPP or QPP retirement benefits normally begins)

Choosing an early, reduced CPP or QPP benefit

If you retire before age 65 you can also choose to receive your CPP or QPP benefit before age 65; however, it is a reduced benefit that continues to be paid at the reduced rate after age 65. As a result, you will notice a decrease in your total pension income at age 65 because you are in receipt of an early CPP or QPP benefit.

The following graph represents if you retire before age 65 and apply for early CPP or QPP benefits (between 60–64 years of age)

Types of pension benefits

The benefits you will be entitled to when you leave the public service depend on your age and the number of years of pensionable service you have accumulated. The date when you became a member under the public service pension plan determines when you will be eligible to receive an unreduced pension benefit:

Protection from inflation

Once you have retired, your pension is increased on January 1 of each year to take into account the cost of living, based on increases in the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

Your first indexing increase will be implemented on January 1 of the year following your year of retirement. This amount will be pro-rated to reflect the number of full months remaining in the year of your retirement. In subsequent years, you will be entitled to the full increase.

Survivor benefits

If death occurs before you have completed two years of pensionable service, your contributions with interest will be refunded to your eligible survivor or children, or to your beneficiaries if you have no eligible survivors.

An eligible survivor means the person who was married to you before retirement or was cohabiting with you in a common law relationship before retirement and for at least one year before your death.

If you have at least two years of pensionable service, your eligible survivor and children will be entitled to the following:

• Survivor benefit: a monthly allowance equal to half of the pension you would have received before age 65 (calculated before any applicable reduction), payable immediately to your eligible survivor.
• Child allowance: one fifth of the survivor benefit (two fifths if you have no eligible survivor), payable until age 18 (age 25, if the child is a student); the maximum allowance for all children combined is the equivalent of four children’s benefits.

Life Events for Plan Members

Further Information