If you are an eligible employee working for one or more participating employers and you work an average of 14 or more hours per week, you must join the plan. There is no waiting period for ministry personnel. Lay employees are enrolled after completing three months of employment.
Once you join the plan, you will remain a contributing member even if you work fewer than 14 hours per week.
The plan is a career-average defined benefit pension plan. As a member, you earn a valuable lifetime pension while you work. Once you retire, you will receive pension payments every month for the rest of your life.
With a defined benefit pension, you receive a specified, guaranteed amount for life when you retire. You avoid the burden and risk of investing your retirement savings, both before and after retirement. You don’t have to worry about investment decisions or fees or base your retirement plan around market performance.
You make contributions on every pay, based on 6% of your pensionable earnings, and your employer contributes 9% of your pensionable earnings. As this is a defined benefit plan, your contributions are not used to calculate your pension. When you retire, you’ll collect pension payments every month for the rest of your life, based on a formula (see How You Earn Pension).
Pensionable earnings are used to calculate pension benefits and contributions.
Salary excludes any non-pensionable allowance.
The annual pension credit you earn is based on your pensionable earnings and the accrual rate for that year. The accrual rate is the percentage rate at which you earn pension credits.
Accrual Rate (%) x Pensionable Earnings ($) = Pension Credit ($)
You will have pensionable earnings for each year that you contribute to the plan and are either
or
The accrual rate has changed over the years. The Pension Board reviews this rate at the end of each year, considering factors such as the funded position of the Plan and economic indicators.
Each year’s pension credit is added to what you have already earned, forming the total amount of annual pension at termination or retirement.
Jay joined the pension plan in 2019. Jay’s pensionable earnings are $60,000 per year. Jay retires after 10 years.
For easy figuring, let’s assume Jay’s salary remains constant
Jay earns the following pension credits:
Jay earns:
2019: $840 (1.4% of $60,000)
2020: 1,110 (1.85% of $60,000)
2021: 975 (1.625% of $60,000)
2022: 1,110 (1.85% of $60,000)
2023: 1,110 (1.85% of $60,000)
2024: 1,110 (1.85% of $60,000)
2025: 1,110 (1.85% of $60,000)
2026: 1,110 (1.85% of $60,000)
2027: 840 (1.4% of $60,000)
2028: 840 (1.4% of $60,000)
Total: $10,155
After working for 10 years, Jay has earned an annual pension of $10,155, payable at age 65. This pension will be paid every year for the rest of Jay’s life.
If Jay decides to take early retirement and receives the pension before age 65, the amount of pension will be reduced to reflect the longer period of time Jay will receive payments.
If Jay decides to postpone retirement and continues working past age 65, in addition to earning additional pension credit, the amount of pension earned to age 65 will be increased to reflect the shorter period of time Jay will receive payments.
There is no automatic indexing in our plan. The Pension Board and Pension Plan Advisory Committee annually assess the resources available and determine whether there are surplus funds that can be used to increase benefits.
