Newsroom

This reminder is a follow-up to notices shared late last year and earlier this year with community of faith treasurers and administrators, as well as ministry personnel, about changes to the regional cost of living group assignments. A copy of the letter shared with treasurers and administrators is in the Downloads section at the bottom of the Ministers’ Salary Schedule and Cost of Living Groups webpage.

These changes will be effective for the pay period beginning July 1, 2023, and apply to the balance of the year. You can find the revised cost of living group assignment data in the Downloads section as well.

If your regional COL group assignment has moved up, your ADP administrator will need to update the minister’s salary in TeamPay or inform ADP of the new salary amount for the pay period beginning July 1.

Salaries for ministry personnel serving in locations where the regional COL group assignment has been adjusted down will be maintained as per the terms of the appointment or call. This includes those whose appointments renew. This means that if the pastoral charge is in a lower cost of living group, the current minister’s salary may not be reduced. It will remain subject to the annual economic adjustment to minimum salaries or as defined in the terms of appointment or call.

There is no change to the COL group for 45 percent of communities of faith. Thirty-nine percent of communities of faith have stepped up one group. Sixteen percent have stepped down one group. These changes reflect  regional differences in the costs of housing, property and provincial income taxes, utilities, and goods and services.

The accrual rate is the rate at which you earn your pension. In 2023, you will earn your pension at the rate of 1.85% of your pensionable earnings.

How Does This Work?

You earn a piece of pension every year that you work and contribute to the plan―like building blocks.

For example, let’s assume that a member’s pensionable earnings stayed constant at $60,000 every year (for easy figuring). From 2019 to 2024, that member would earn:

At the end of your career, the annual pension amounts earned each year (pension credits) will add up to the total annual pension you will receive every year for the rest of your life. So, the higher amount earned in 2023 will continue to benefit you for the rest of your retired life.

What about Future Increases?

There is no automatic indexing or increases in our pension plan. Each year, the Pension Board and Pension Plan Advisory Committee assess the resources available and determine whether there are surplus funds that can be used to increase benefits.

Are you looking to augment the Active member health and dental plan? Here are a few things to consider:

The United Church plan, the United Church rates

• Our plan’s premium is 100% employer paid. Your employer pays 7.77% of your pensionable earnings for the Active benefits plan, of which 5.96% is for health and dental coverage. These rates change annually and will be posted on the Pension and Benefits deductions page mid-December.
• You do not have to complete medical or health questionnaires to enroll in our benefits plan.
• We pay for expert advice to design and manage a plan for our members.
• We do not pay commissions on insurance or services we purchase for the plan – this may not be true of third parties selling individual plans, including affinity groups.
• The rates we charge reflect the anticipated costs of running the plans and there is no profit margin.

Other plans

• Will include a profit margin and possibly commission.
• Will not integrate with our plan. They will be designed to provide coverage where there is no employer sponsored coverage, and will essentially, in many cases, simply duplicate our plan’s coverage, not augment it.
  • For instance, our insurer (Green Shield Canada) can offer such individual supplemental plans but our analysis found them to represent poor value for money.
• Some options offered in the market or by affinity groups are actually ‘conversion plans’ and are only available to people who lost coverage under their employer sponsored plan. Members who were previously enrolled in the “Optional Health & Dental Plan” did not lose health and dental coverage – access to the additional coverage afforded by the Optional plan was lost.

Can I opt-out of the United Church Health & Dental Plan?

• Our plan does not allow waiver of coverage unless you have another privately sponsored plan from other employment or a spouse. (Please note, it does not save any premiums because core benefits are assessed as one benefit, fully paid by the employer.) Full participation is an integral part of the Active plan.
• We offer a broad plan to provide benefits to our members that are affordable to employers while still protecting members against catastrophic hardship.
• The Active plan is largely employer paid and includes a number of valuable benefits:
  • Employer Paid
    • Health and Dental Coverage
    • Life insurance
    • Dependent Life Insurance
    • Accidental Death & Dismemberment
    • Employee and Family Assistance Plan
    • Restorative Care Plan
  • Employee Paid
    • Long Term Disability Plan (employee paid is the common practice, allowing any benefits collected to be tax free)

A letter from the General Secretary, Michael Blair, was sent to all retirees on November 22, 2021 that outlined recent discussions and decisions about benefits for retirees of the United Church. You can review the General Secretary's letter here.

If you are a retired member of the United Church and did not receive this communication by email or Canada Post, please contact UCCBenefitsNews@united-church.ca to provide your current information so we can update our records.

The plan summary for the Health and Dental Benefits for Active Members, effective January 1, 2022, is now posted on the Group Benefits page, under Life, Health and Dental, Disability Benefits. Please note, this plan summary is subject to a final review by external consultants. If you have any questions, please email benefits@united-church.ca. The General Council Office will reopen on January 4, 2022.

As we try and uphold our commitment to you by providing more information about the Benefits Plan changes, please visit the Group Benefits page, under Life, Health & Dental, Disability Benefits. The formal benefit plan text document is in development and will be published when finalized, so stay tuned. Meanwhile, what you need to know is in the following:

• FAQ
• Comparison Chart
• Benefits Plan Video
• Benefits Plan Summary (coming soon)

Further to the announcement of changes to the group benefits plans, a letter has been sent to all plan members with more detail. It can be found in the Document Library, under Benefits Administration.

A Comparison Chart of the changes and an FAQ are also available on the same page with more information.

If you have any questions about these changes, please contact Benefits@united-church.ca. Due to current workloads, the Benefits Team will only be accepting questions by email at this time.

PREMIUMS AND PLAN CHANGES

After careful consideration and a fulsome discussion, the Executive of the General Council (GCE) approved the closing of the Optional plan and redesign of the Core plan. Starting January 1, 2022, there will be only one plan, paid for by the employer, for all eligible active ministry personnel and employees of the church. The details of the coverage and maximums will be communicated later in the fall with a comprehensive FAQs to address questions members and employers might have.

In 2020, staff reported to GCE that the Core and Optional active employee health and dental plans had a deficit of $2.4 million in 2020 and anticipated growing deficits in subsequent years. Major plan redesigns or significant rate increases were required in order to achieve funded and sustainable plans. The Executive directed staff to undertake a thorough review of the plans and propose changes to achieve sustainability, while balancing costs and risks. The decision to discontinue the Optional plan is the best way to ensure the sustainability of one Core plan for all members. To read the full proposal, select "Document Library", and it can be found under Benefits Administration.

RETIREE HEALTH AND DENTAL

In 2020, the Executive of the General Council (GCE) approved premium increases to the Retiree Health and Dental Plan through 2024. About half of retired employees of the United Church elect to participate in this plan.  In the last few years there has been a change in the membership’s demographics resulting in more members retiring with a monthly pension amount smaller than the current monthly premiums for the Retiree Health and Dental Plan. Some members are experiencing financial distress with the necessary premium increases. Concerned with future sustainability, the Executive approved a new financial threshold for pensioners who wish to enroll in the plan and a new one-time option for current members who are under that threshold to voluntarily opt out of the Retiree Health and Dental plan. They may not, however, re-enroll at a later date.

Detailed communication on both changes will be available by November 1, however, if you have any immediate questions, please send your email to benefits@united-church.ca. Due to current workloads, the Benefits Team will only be accepting questions by email at this time.