Pension Increases Approved for Both Active and Retired Teachers

The Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation Executive recently approved conditional increases to both active and retired teachers’ pensions.

On January 1, 2024 retirees will also receive their regular guaranteed cost-of-living adjustment on their pre-2015 pension. This year’s increase is three percent.

This is the third year in a row that the STF has provided some level of conditional increases to members’ pensions. Conditional increases help your pension keep up with inflation to provide a more meaningful retirement benefit.

Who is Eligible?

Any teacher who provided service under contract in the 2022-23 or 2023-24 school years that has not retired or received a termination benefit from the Plan before June 30, 2024 will be eligible for the conditional upgrade. This includes those receiving benefits from the Teachers’ Long-Term Disability Plan but does not include substitute teaching service.  However, substitute teachers will be eligible to receive future conditional upgrades granted after July 1, 2024.

All retired members who are receiving a monthly pension as of December 31, 2023 will be eligible to receive the conditional COLA along with their guaranteed COLA increase. If your retirement date occurred between January 1 and December 31, 2023 then your COLA increases will be prorated.

What’s the Difference?

Conditional Upgrades These are increases to your lifetime monthly pension applied before you retire. Conditional upgrades may or may not be granted depending on the health of the Plan and may apply to either your pre-2015 lifetime pension or your post-2015 lifetime pension (or both). If granted, the increase is applied on June 30 of the applicable year.

Conditional COLA These are increases to your lifetime monthly pension applied after you have retired. Conditional COLA increases may or may not be granted depending on the health of the Plan and apply to pension benefits earned after June 30, 2015. If granted, the increase is applied on January 1 of the applicable year.

Guaranteed COLA These are increases to your lifetime monthly pension applied after you have retired. Guaranteed COLA increases will occur each January and are not dependent on the health of the Plan. They are applied to pension benefits earned before July 1, 2015 and are equal to 80 percent of inflation to a maximum of three percent each year.