Your 2023 Annual Pension Statement

This section includes your name, address, date of birth, OPTrust ID number and plan membership date.

This section of your statement shows your pension estimates at December 31, 2023 in a highlighted box and what you will receive if you:

• had stopped contributing to the Plan at year-end
• contribute to the Plan up to your earliest unreduced retirement date
• continue to contribute to the Plan up to age 65.

This section shows your regular contributions for the year as well as contributions made on your behalf. Your employer's regular contributions are not included in this figure.

This section shows your beneficiaries on record at OPTrust. If the information is incorrect or needs to be updated, visit our website to make changes through your secure Online Services account or complete a Member Spousal Information and Beneficiary Designation (OPTrust 1015) form.

Your OPTrust pension is calculated using your average annual salary. The average annual salary use to calculate your pension is the average of your highest 60 sequential months of annual salary rates during your membership. The best average annual salary as of December 31, 2023 is shown on your statement.

Your pension service is the total period of time during which you contribute to the Plan or have contributions made on your behalf. Your pension service at December 31, 2023 shows all the pension service you have accumulated in the Plan, including buybacks, transfers and adjustments.

Your OPTrust pension is calculated using a formula that takes into account the average of your highest 60 sequential months of annual salary rates and pension service in the Plan. The formula on your statement shows the calculation for your pension at age 65.

If you find any errors in your personal information or inaccuracies in the pension data on your statement, please contact OPTrust. In some cases we may need additional documentation or we may need to contact your employer before we can make any changes.

Your statement is based on information provided by your employer. If there are errors in this information, your pension estimates may change as more accurate data becomes available. An error on your statement does not entitle you to benefits under the OPSEU Pension Plan that you would not otherwise receive based on your actual situation. Correcting any errors on your statement will give you accurate pension information for your retirement planning.

Yes. Your Annual Pension Statement is available through our secure Online Services. If you are not registered yet, you can easily do so using your OPTrust ID and your employee ID.

You may have not received your Annual Pension Statement in the mail if your Communication Preference for statements on Online Services is set as "Email Notice" or you have not set this to “Mail.” Please log into your account to view your statement. If your communication preference is set to Mail and you did not receive your statement, please contact OPTrust.

You can update your spousal information and/or update your beneficiaries through OPTrust’s secure Online Services. Alternatively, you can complete a Member Spousal Information and Beneficiary Designation (OPTrust 1015) form available online.

You do not need to name your spouse as your designated beneficiary. By law, survivor benefits are payable to your eligible spouse when you die and take priority over any other beneficiaries you designate. However, it is a good idea to identify someone else as a designated beneficiary, in case both you and your spouse die at the same time, or your spouse dies before you. Your designated beneficiary should be someone other than your spouse and can be any person or organization that you choose. Benefits will be divided equally if you designate more than one beneficiary. There is one exception - if your spouse has waived their right to pre- or post-retirement survivor benefits you may designate them as a beneficiary if you wish.

The choice is yours. You can choose to name any person or organization as your beneficiary. We’ll direct any payment to those named if you die before you retire. If you don’t designate a beneficiary, we’ll issue the payment to your estate. It may take some time to sort out estate situations, while payments to designated beneficiaries can generally be processed quite quickly. If there is no beneficiary on file, any entitlements will be paid to your estate.

If you do not work full-time, OPTrust cannot project your future pension service. We can only provide a pension estimate as of December 31, 2023.

Your plan membership date is not directly linked to your total pension service in the Plan. Your pension service may reflect a number of factors, such as part-time service, leaves of absence, buybacks and transfers from other pension plans. Your pension and your eligibility for early retirement are based on your total pension service, not your plan membership date.

Your OPTrust pension is not calculated based on your contributions. The OPSEU Pension Plan is a defined benefit plan. This means that your pension is calculated using OPTrust’s pension formula. As a result, your pension is based on i) your years of pension service and ii) the best consecutive five-year average annual salary rate.

To calculate your pension, we use your average annual salary as of December 31, 2023. Average annual salary is calculated by taking the highest average of the member's annual salary rate using the period of 60 sequential months of membership in the plan. If you have been a member for less than five years, your average annual salary is based on your period of membership in the Plan.

By working part-time at 50% of full-time hours over 10 years, you have earned five full years of pension service. Your pension calculation will be based on this amount of pension service. The calculation will also use your average annual “full-time equivalent” salary rate, not your actual part-time earnings..

If you did not have a wage increase last year or in prior years, your age 65 pension amount will decrease for these reasons:

• we use the average of the past five years of Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings (YMPE) to calculate the reduction that is applied to your pension at age 65
• the YMPE increases every year
• the higher average YMPE results in a larger age 65 reduction

If your salary does not increase, your age 65 pension may continue to decrease.

Your statement lists only pension service that was paid for in 2023. To see all of your credited pension service, including the service you bought back in prior years, please check the "Your Pension Service" section of the statement.

You may be eligible to buy back pension service for:

• past service – including contract or unclassified service – with an employer who contributed to the OPSEU Pension Plan, the Public Service Pension Plan, or its predecessor
• past service with an employer who contributed to another Canadian registered pension plan, and
• leaves of absence for which you did not contribute to the Plan.

To buy back past service, you must submit an online or written application to OPTrust. For more information on buying back past service, refer to our video Your OPTrust Pension and Buying Back Pension Service.

If you are buying back past pension service, your Annual Pension Statement provides you with a current account of your pension service. The “Total Pension Service” listed on your statement includes any pension service that you have paid for as of December 31, 2023. Any remaining pension service you have committed to purchase is included in “Pension Estimates.” To view a status of your ongoing buyback, sign-in to our secure Online Services where you can track the progress of your payments.