If you are less than 55 years old at the end of the waiting period corresponding to your active membership termination, you will receive a termination package on which you could be offered two options for the amount accrued in the Plan: a deferred pension payable at retirement or a transfer of the value of your pension.
Deferred pension
You may choose to receive an unreduced pension under the Plan from age 60, or a reduced pension from age 55. To be eligible to receive a deferred pension, the value of your pension must be more than 5% of the YMPE ($3,565 in 2025).
Indexation of deferred pension
The pension accrued for service between April 1, 2003 and December 31, 2018 is indexed at 50% of the rate of inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), from the end of your active membership in the Plan (usually 12 months after the end of your employment) until your 55th birthday. However, this annual indexation may not be less than 0%, nor greater than 2%. Please note that your pension for past service and your pension for service accrued as of January 1, 2019 are not indexed.
Transfer of the value of your pension
If you are less than 55 years of age, you may elect to transfer the value of your pension to one of the following retirement savings vehicles:
- locked-in retirement account (LIRA)
- life income fund (LIF)
- insurance policy
- your new employer’s retirement savings plan, if they agree to the transfer.
Please note that benefit transfer requests must comply with the deadlines specified in the following section.
Refund
If the value of your vested rights is low, that is, less than 20% of the YMPE ($14,260 in 2025) of the year during which your active membership ended, you will also be able to ask that this value be refunded to you or transferred to an RRSP, a Voluntary Retirement Savings Plan (VRSP), or another registered pension plan, if allowed under applicable tax legislation.
As of January 1, 2019, if you decide, as a Plan member, to transfer the value of your vested benefits following termination of participation, your transfer value will be payable in proportion to the Plan’s solvency ratio in effect as at the valuation date. For informational purposes, the most recent actuarial valuation, or latest notice regarding the Plan’s financial situation, submitted to Retraite Québec on December 31, 2023, indicated a solvency ratio of 95.3% for credited service prior to January 1, 2019, and of 91.9% for credited service after December 31, 2018.
However, if you do not have the option to maintain your vested benefits in the Plan, the value of benefits will be paid in full.
Furthermore, if the value of your vested rights is less than or equal to 5% of the YMPE of the year during which your active membership ended, this value is fully refundable in cash or fully transferrable to your RRSP, a VRSP, or another registered pension plan, if allowed under applicable tax legislation.
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