British Columbia, Canada - Public Service Pension Plan for Lighthouse keepers and others.

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Canadian Government
Pension Plans for Retiring
Lighthouse Keepers

      All Canadian government employees who are eligible for retirement are eligible for The Public Service Pension Plan (PSPP), the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) (or Quebec Pension Plan (QPP) if you worked in Quebec), plus at age 65, the Old Age Security (OAS) pension.

      You are entitled to a Public Service pension (immediate annuity), if you retire:(source 2008-03-04)

at or after age 60 with two (2) or more years of pensionable service; or

at or after age 55 with 30 or more years of pensionable service.

      A Public Service pension is calculated according to the following basic pension formula:(source 2008-03-04)

2 per
cent X number of years of
pensionable service X your average salary for the five
consecutive years of your highest-paid
service

Maximum pension payable is for 35 years which equals 70%.

1. Public Service Pension Plan

The Public Service Pension Plan is administered by Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC)

There is very excellent pension information here on their main website, such as facts and frequently asked questions (FAQs) on the following topics:

Who can participate in the pension plan? (source 2003-09-28) Employees working on a full-time or part-time basis (minimum 12 hours per week) contribute to the plan depending on the term of their appointment:

If you are an employee appointed for an indeterminate period or hired for a period of more than six months, you and your employer, the federal government, begin to make contributions to the PSPP from the beginning of your employment;

If you are hired for a term of six months or less, you will begin to contribute to the plan after completing six months of continuous employment.

      In addition, you and the federal government, like all Canadian workers and employers, must also contribute to the Canada Pension Plan (CPP), if you work outside Quebec, or the Quebec Pension Plan (QPP), if you work in Quebec.

      Now, please note the following as it is not explained very well to most employees when they start work. (emphasis is mine)

      "When the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and the Quebec Pension Plan (QPP) were introduced on January 1, 1966, the federal government, like most Canadian employers offering a pension plan for their employees, decided to co-ordinate the new CPP/QPP with the Public Service pension plan . It did this so that its employees would not have to set aside a greater proportion of their salary for retirement savings." (source 2008-03-04)

      "The co-ordination of the Public Service pension plan with the CPP/QPP affects not only your contributions but also your benefits. You contribute less to the Public Service pension plan on earnings up to the maximum covered by the CPP/QPP ($44,900 for 2008) and your Public Service pension is reduced to partially recognize benefits payable from the CPP/QPP. This means that Public Service pension plan benefits are reduced automatically by a standard formula once you reach age 65 (which is the normal age of eligibility for CPP/QPP), or if you are entitled to draw CPP/QPP disability benefits at any age." (source 2008-03-04)

      "Once the amount of the reduction is calculated, it is then deducted from the Public Service pension you had before age 65."(source 2008-03-04)

      This means that at age 65 you will be getting less pension than any other "equivalent" private sector employee! It is partially made up for by the OAP, but private sector gets Pension+CPP+OAP. The government employees get "reduced pension"+CPP+OAP!

      A new percentage for calculating this reduction was introduced in 2007. You can find the paper here - Improvement to the three major public sector pension plans - Tax implications.

      A last couple of points to bring to your attention:

To benefit further from the pension plan, members can generally transfer accrued pension credits in another pension plan or purchase periods of past service.(source 2002-05-10)
Survivors and eligible children are entitled to certain benefits.(source 2002-05-10)
Pensions to plan members and their survivors are indexed to protect their purchasing power. This means that benefits are adjusted to reflect increases in the Consumer Price Index.(source 2002-05-10)
When a person is on pension, a statement is given at the begining of every year and you also receive a copy of the Client Service Bulletin which lists changes, notices, and other interesting information.
A pensioner is also eligible to retain his Public Service Health Care Plan (PSHCP) - originally called GSMIP; his dental plan, now called Pensioners Dental Services Plan (PDSP); and his Supplementary Death Benefit (SDB) insurance.

More information is available on the Canadian government "source" web pages highlighted above.

- Treasury Board of Canada - Secretariat

Disclaimer: Always check the Treasury Board of Canada - Secretariat website. The information here will be kept up to date as new laws come into force, but the information on this page is only to bring certain points to your attention. It is not a complete record of all pension changes. - JAC

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2. Canada Pension Plan (CPP) As early as age 60, you can apply for Canada Pension Plan (CPP) benefits. More information can be found here (source 2006-11-28).
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3. Old Age Security (OAS) (originally known as Old Age Pension (OAP) Only at age 65, can you can apply for Old Age security (OAS) benefits. More information can be found here (source 2008-02-29).
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John Coldwell (retired BC lighthouse keeper)
Galvanistrasse 8
A-4040 Linz, Austria
Tel: +43 (732) 750515

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