Planning Your Retirement

Eligibility for Pension

You are eligible for a pension when you have:

• five years of pensionable service after August 31, 1992, or
• five years of pensionable service that includes a period of pensionable service in each of the 1991-92 and 1992-93 school years, or
• 10 years of pensionable service.

Unreduced Pension

If you have sufficient pensionable service to be eligible for a pension, you can receive an unreduced pension when:

• the sum of your age and pensionable service is at least 85 (often referred to as the “age-plus-service index of 85”), or
• you reach age 65 (normal retirement).

Reduced Pension and Examples

If you have sufficient pensionable service to be eligible for a pension and you retire before you are eligible for an unreduced pension (as outlined above), your pension will be reduced. The reduction is 2% multiplied by the lesser of the following two calculations:

• each year or portion of a year that your age-plus-service index is less than 85, or
• each year or portion of a year that you are under age 65.

The maximum reduction is 20%.

Examples of Reduced Pensions

• A plan member who is age 55 with five years of pensionable service would have an index of 60 (i.e., 55 + 5 = 60). There would be a 20% reduction in pension (25 years short of index, but only 10 years short of age 65; therefore, 10 years multiplied by 2% = 20% reduction).
• A plan member who is age 60 with 22.5 years of pensionable service would have an index of 82.5 (i.e., 60 + 22.5 = 82.5). There would be a 5% reduction in pension (2.5 years short of index, and 5 years short of age 65; therefore, 2.5 years multiplied by 2% = 5% reduction).

Start of Pension

Pensions are payable from the later of the first of the month following:

• your 55th birthday,
• the termination of your last teaching contract,
• the last accrual of pensionable service with ATRF, or
• the date when your last substitute service was purchased.

When and How to Apply

You are eligible to apply only if:

• you have already terminated your teaching contract or notified your employer you will be terminating your teaching contract, and
• applied before any new teaching contract with an ATRF employer begins.

If you will be teaching under contract on December 31 of the year in which you turn age 71, you do not have to terminate your teaching contract before you apply.

You can apply for your pension no earlier than 120 days (four months) before the pension start date.

Before you apply for your pension, you must resign from your teaching contract. The Education Act requires you to give your employer at least 30 days written notice of your intention to resign.

Apply online using MyPension or complete and return the Pension Application form to ATRF.

More information on how to apply can be found in the Steps to Retirement publication.

Necessary Documentation

You must provide ATRF with a copy of:

• Your birth certificate, driver’s license, Canadian Passport, or Certificate of Canadian Citizenship,
• Your pension partner’s birth certificate, driver’s license, Canadian Passport, or Certificate of Canadian Citizenship (if applicable).

Check with ATRF to ensure the above certificates are on file.