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Canada's New Government Announces Changes to Reserve Force Personnel Pension Plan

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  • Canada's New Government Announces Changes to Reserve Force Personnel Pension Plan

    http://www.forces.gc.ca/site/newsroo..._e.asp?id=2174

    Canada's New Government Announces Changes to Reserve Force Personnel Pension Plan
    NR–06.096 - December 21, 2006


    OTTAWA – The Honourable Gordon O’Connor, Minister of Defence, and General Rick Hillier, the Chief of Defence Staff, are pleased to announce that all Reserve Force members will now be eligible to contribute to and earn benefits from the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) for all periods of Reserve service.

    The amendment to the Canadian Forces Superannuation Regulations means that starting January 1, 2007, all Reserve Force members will contribute to CPP on the same basis as any other Canadian worker earning above the basic exemption, regardless of the nature or length of the Reserve service.

    “Canada’s New Government has made this change because we believe that all Reservists should be able to collect a pension that will allow them to build for retirement and provide their families with basic financial protection,” said O’Connor. “Canada’s New Government is proud of the brave men and women who serve our country daily and this amendment is another example of our commitment to support them.”

    “This change is excellent news for Reservists,” said Hillier. “Whether Canadians choose to serve full-time or part-time in the CF, they will be able to start building upon their CPP pension and create a more secure future,” he added.

    At least 8,500 Reserve Force members previously excluded will now be eligible to contribute to and earn benefits under the CPP. As of January 1, 2007, Reserve Force members will pay CPP contributions of 4.95% on their Reserve Force earnings that range between the Year’s Basic Exemption of $3,500 (or earn more than $291 a month) and the Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings (YMPE) set by CPP, which will be $43,700 in 2007.

    - 30 -

    For more information on the Reserve Pension Plan please visit: http://www.forces.gc.ca/hr/dgcb/cfpmp/.
    "Dwight D. Eisenhower: The best morale exists when you never hear the word mentioned. When you hear it it's usually lousy.

  • #2
    On a related note ( I think...)

    Part-time soldiers take on the MoD over pension rights


    Henry McDonald, Ireland editor
    Sunday December 31, 2006
    The Observer

    A test case in Northern Ireland involving the pension rights of up to 1,000 part-time soldiers could cost the Ministry of Defence tens of millions of pounds.

    If the troops from the soon-to-be disbanded Royal Irish Regiment win their legal fight for a pension, then Territorial Army soldiers will be entitled to the same rights.

    The soldiers, based in Northern Ireland, are challenging their exclusion from military pension schemes, citing a new EU directive that gives pension entitlements to part-time workers. Dozens of cases will be heard in early 2007 in Belfast.

    Article continues
    Lagan Valley Democratic Unionist MP Jeffrey Donaldson, whose younger brother Kingsley is a full-time RIR soldier and who has served in Iraq, is championing their cause. Donaldson agreed that, if the soldiers were successful, then it would have implications for TA pensions rights.

    'I suppose that is why the MoD is vigorously defending its policy. They don't want the TA to get pension rights. But there are sound legal and moral reasons why the part-timers of the RIR should get pensions.

    'On the legal front they are taking the cases under the EU directive. They will argue that they can be classified as part-time workers too. Morally the government and the MoD owe these soldiers a great debt. They served in the most dangerous part of Europe as British soldiers and because they lived and worked in the community they were more vulnerable to murder by terrorists. The soldiers who held down day jobs while serving in the regiment were the most vulnerable of all.'

    Donaldson said the test cases might also allow former part-time soldiers in the Ulster Defence Regiment, disbanded in July 1992, to sue for retrospective pension rights.

    An MoD spokesman said the ministry could not comment on the case, for legal reasons. However, it is understood the MoD will oppose pension rights for part-time soldiers on the grounds that while in the RIR they did not pay contributions like full-time troops did.

    Three of the four RIR battalions, 3,500 troops, are to be disbanded under the government's plans to demilitarise Northern Ireland. The part-time RIR troops will officially lose their jobs today. As part of their retirement package they are being given a tax-free sum of £14,000 each. The full-time soldiers will leave the regiment with a £28,000 tax-free retirement package, plus their pensions.

    A test case in Northern Ireland involving the pension rights of up to 1,000 part-time soldiers could cost the Ministry of Defence tens of millions of pounds.


    Does this "new EU directive" have a bearing on RDF/NSR? Apologies if this has been gone over before.
    "Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here...this is the War Room!"

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    • #3
      I dont know what the "new directive" is above but if it is this...



      ...then

      The government's decision to include occupational pensions in the scope of the new legislation should give part-time workers a pro-rata entitlement to participate in full-time workers' pension schemes they were often excluded from in the past. The only exemption to the ban on pension discrimination is part-timer employees 'whose normal hours of work constitute less than 20% of the normal hours of work of a comparable full-time employee' . When framing the legislation, it was believed that the small level of pension benefit that could be accrued by such workers would be outweighed by the administrative cost of such a pension to the employer.
      If someone could get the ECJ to consider army tea breaks outside normal working hours then you are in with a shout!!
      Last edited by Itchy; 3 January 2007, 14:17.
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