Your contributions to the Plan cease. You cannot accrue more than 35 years of pensionable service, even if you continue working beyond 35 years. However, your salary after you have accrued 35 years of service may be taken into account when calculating your highest average salary, subject to the salary cap.

For service before 1992, SFPP provides for yearly Cost-of-Living Adjustments (COLA), at 60 per cent of Alberta's increase in the consumer price index. For service after 1991, the Board annually reviews and determines if there is sufficient funding to grant an increase. If COLA is payable, it is applied to pension payments each January.

Further information:
Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA)

Effective January 1, 2001, the re-employment rules were amended to allow pensioners greater flexibility to become re-employed by a SFPP employer while receiving a pension from SFPP. If you are currently receiving a pension you may now become re-employed by a SFPP employer and not have your pension suspended. Your pension continues to be paid; however, you are not allowed to contribute to SFPP during this new period of employment.

If you work with an employer that has a pension plan other than SFPP, you may be asked to contribute to their pension plan. When you leave that employment, you will be paid a benefit based on that plan's rules.

Further information:
Working as a Pensioner

Coordination is a feature of the Special Forces Pension Plan (SFPP) offered to members who retire before age 65 that allows for retirement income planning. It lets you increase your monthly payment temporarily from the time you retire until you turn 65. At age 65, the increase to your monthly payment stops and a reduction to your monthly payment begins. The reduction will continue as long as you live.

This permanent reduction to your pension will continue regardless of changes to your federal benefits or your other retirement income sources.

Further Information:
Coordination

Your pension will be paid to you for as long as you live. The guarantee means the pension will be paid to your beneficiary if you die before the end of the guaranteed period. If you have a guaranteed term pension you may name as many people as you would like as your beneficiaries.

Your pension will continue to be paid no matter where you live. The tax rate for pensions paid to non-residents is 25 per cent. Some countries have tax treaties which will reduce the out of country tax from 25 per cent to between 0 per cent to 25 per cent. Your pension will be paid in Canadian dollars. A cheque can be mailed to you or we can direct deposit it into a bank account in Canada for you. You will receive an NR4 from us instead of a T4A for tax purposes.

We only offer direct deposit to banks in Canada.

Yes, to increase the amount of tax deducted, please send a written request to our office. You may also complete a TD1 form available from Canada Revenue Agency and send it to us.

(a) APS finalizes the pension benefits once it receives all of the information from the member and employer. This process takes approximately 60 days to complete.

If your pension effective date happens before your pension is finalized, you will be set up on "advance pension payments".

Once your pension file is finalized, if applicable, we will send you a cheque for the difference between the advance pension payments and what you should have been paid.

Generally, the first payment is made within 30 days of the pension commencement date.

(b) The deposit date is always the second last banking day before the end of the month, except for December. In December, the deposit date is before December 25.

Further information:
Pension Payment Dates

Banking Information and Name Change

• By mail to:
    SFPP c/o Alberta Pensions Services Corporation (APS)
    5103 Windermere Blvd. SW
    Edmonton, AB T6W 0S9
• By fax at 780-415-8792
• Banking information changes must be sent in writing.
• To change your name on our file, we need a copy of your name change document (such as a marriage certificate)

Please do not send personal information by e-mail. E-mail is not a secure method of transmitting sensitive information (such as your member or pensioner ID, social insurance number, birth date or address). To protect your privacy, any requests containing personal information should be made by telephone, fax, mail, or in person by appointment.

Address

• Update your address by phone (as long as your payment is by direct deposit) at 1-877-422-4748
• By mail to:
    SFPP c/o Alberta Pensions Services Corporation (APS)
    5103 Windermere Blvd. SW
    Edmonton, AB T6W 0S9
• By fax at 780-415-8792

Please do not send personal information by e-mail. E-mail is not a secure method of transmitting sensitive information (such as your member or pensioner ID, social insurance number, birth date or address). To protect your privacy, any requests containing personal information should be made by telephone, fax, mail, or in person by appointment.

Beneficiary
Fill out the Designation of Beneficiary Form Designation of Beneficiar(ies) (2P) or send in a written request.

• By mail to:
    SFPP c/o Alberta Pensions Services Corporation (APS)
    5103 Windermere Blvd SW, Edmonton, AB T6W 0S9
• By fax at 780-415-8792
• Contact us to request a form

Please do not send personal information by e-mail. E-mail is not a secure method of transmitting sensitive information (such as your member or pensioner ID, social insurance number, birth date or address). To protect your privacy, any requests containing personal information should be made by telephone, fax, mail, or in person by appointment.

Please contact us regarding the deceased pensioner and we will give you details of the pension and any documents required to continue the pension if applicable.

If you were retired in the previous calendar year and have not received your T4A by March 15, please contact us so we can send you a duplicate.

In order to split pension payments between a pensioner and ex-spouse due to marital breakdown, we require a Matrimonial Property Order (MPO). Please contact us to discuss this in further detail or refer to  the regulations regarding pension division on marital breakdown available on Alberta Pensions Services Corporation's (APS) website.

To contact Pension Payroll:

Phone: 1-877-422-4748
Toll free outside of Canada: 1-800-661-8198
Fax: 780-415-8792
E-mail: pay@sfpp.ca
Mail: SFPP c/o Alberta Pensions Services Corporation
        5103 Windermere Boulevard SW
        Edmonton, AB T6W 0S9

The Board appreciates receiving feedback/suggestions for potential plan improvements. To send your feedback/suggestions, email board@SFPP.ca or write to us at the address on the contact us page.

Your employer may have requested SFPP approve their long-term disability insurance (LTDI) plan for pension purposes. If the LTDI plan was approved, you are not eligible to apply for a SFPP disability pension until you are no longer eligible to receive LTDI benefits. With an approved LTDI plan, you will continue to participate in SFPP as long as you receive LTDI benefits. Contributions to SFPP must continue as if you were still at work. When you retire, the time you received LTDI benefits will count towards your pensionable service.

If your employer's LTDI plan has not been approved by SFPP for pension purposes, you may be eligible to apply for a SFPP disability pension.

Contact your employer or SFPP's administrator, Alberta Pensions Services Corporation (APS), for information if you believe you may qualify for a disability pension.

Your pension will be paid as long as you live.

When you retire, you will be asked to make a pension choice and that choice will determine how your pension will be paid to you after you die. If you have a pension partner when you retire, you will be asked to make a pension choice that ensures your pension partner is paid a pension for their lifetime if you die. Your pension partner can waive this right at the time the pension choice is made.

No matter what option you choose or how long you live, your benefit is paid for your lifetime. A single life pension pays benefits only for your life. No payments will be made to a beneficiary or your estate after your death. A normal pension is guaranteed for five years and is paid for your lifetime and at a reduced rate after your death to your pension partner who is named at retirement. If you die and your pension partner dies before five years have passed, the beneficiary of the person who lived the longest will receive pension payments for the remainder of the five years.

Joint life pensions are payable for the lives of you and your nominee (usually your pension partner). Upon the death of either person, payments are made to the survivor for the rest of his or her life. Joint life pensions also have a five-year guarantee in the event both member and nominee die before five years of benefits have been paid. Depending on the chosen joint life option, the amount payable at your death or your nominee's death may change.

• Joint life not reduced - the same pension amount is paid until both the pensioner and nominee have died.
• Joint life reduced by 1/3 - the pension is paid for as long as the pensioner and the nominee live, but the pension to the survivor will be reduced by one-third after the death of either the pensioner or nominee.

A guaranteed term pension is payable for your lifetime or for a specific period of years, whichever is longer. Guaranteed term pensions may be paid for 5, 10 or 15-year terms. If you die before the end of the guaranteed period, payments will continue to your beneficiary or your estate for the remainder of that period. The longer the guaranteed term, the lower the monthly payment.

If you retire before age 65, your pension will include a Bridge Benefit. This bridge is provided up to age 65 when it is recognized that a member will likely receive federal pensions.

Before you turn 65, your pension is calculated using 2 per cent of your highest average five year salary multiplied by your years of pensionable service. However, a small portion of what is paid before age 65 is actually a bridge paid only until age 65.

The Bridge Benefit is .6% of the five-year average of the Year's Maximum Pensionable Earnings set by the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) for each year of service after 1966. At 65, the Bridge is no longer paid. The lower pension will then be paid for as long as the pension is paid.

The Plan is financed by member and employer contributions. As well, the Government of Alberta contributes 1.25 per cent for pre-1992 unfunded liabilities.

Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo) manages and invests the assets of the Plan on behalf of the Minister and the Board. AIMCo invests SFPP's assets for the benefit of its members, subject to legislation and the investment policies approved by the Board.

For more information see Who Looks After Your Pension Plan.

Pension plans like SFPP are long-term investors. The contribution dollars of members joining the Plan today will be invested and reinvested for many years into the future. The investments compound and grow over time before being used to pay to members as pensions during their retirement years.

With the advice of an actuary, the Board ensures that employer and employee contributions levels are sufficient. The contributions, along with expected investment returns, will pay all future pension liabilities.

For more information, see SFPP's Statement of Investment Policies & Goals.

Each year, the Alberta Auditor General does a complete audit and presents an audited statement to the Alberta Government and to the Board.