In this edition
What’s new at CAAT
Join the Employer Insights Panel
Share your valuable feedback and ideas with CAAT and our thriving community of pension partners by joining CAAT’s Insights Panel for Employers.
Once you become a panel member, we’ll send you surveys and polls that will help us evolve our products and services to meet your unique business needs. Your input will help us make improvements to the Plan and to the resources available to you and your members.
Joining is easy and quick!
You recently received an email with your official invitation to join CAAT’s Insights Panel for Employers. Sign up today, using the link provided in your invitation! Can’t find your email? Send us an email at contact@caatpension.ca and we will resend the invitation.
Member learning sessions
Book a customized session for your members today!
Did you know February 15 was Pension Awareness Day? It is a day to bring awareness about the value of a workplace pension and a great opportunity to support your business goals by booking a customized member learning session for your employees.
The more your employees know about their CAAT pension, the more they value it, potentially increasing your employee retention, engagement and wellness scores. We’re currently booking through 2024 for the following topics:
- Retirement planning
- A future you can count on: Your CAAT Pension
- DBprime service purchases
- DBplus pension purchases
Book today by emailing your request to:
Presentations
If you are an employer working with a CAAT administration partner, we highly encourage you to book a customized session for your members to help them understand how their prior plan and DBplus are administered together by CAAT.
Upcoming events
Mark your calendar for these events. We send invitations straight to your inbox two weeks prior to the event and registration is available on our website.
Quarterly Employer Update—February 27 at 1 p.m.
This webinar will update you about plan news, upcoming events, reminders and more.
Register now
Employer education sessions (for employers working directly with CAAT)
- March 7: Annual Statement overview
- For employers with DBprime and DBplus—10 a.m.
- For employers with DBplus only—1 p.m.
This session is a walk-through of the Annual Statement and will be useful for human resources staff, so they can understand what information is provided to members.
April 4: In-year reporting—Terminations, retirements and pre-retirement death
- For employers with DBprime and DBplus—10 a.m.
- For employers with DBplus only—1 p.m.
This session covers the employer role in data reporting for members who terminate, retire, or die in active service, have a change of employment or start a long-term disability leave. We will review the Plan's in-year reporting requirements for these scenarios.
Updates and reminders
New: Later deadline for remittances
All employers will now have more time to remit contributions to CAAT! This means more flexibility and less risk of late fees.
As of January 1, 2024, the deadline to remit contributions is a business day that is no more than 30 days following the end of month to which the contributions relate. This is in line with the maximum allowable timeline under pension legislation. If the 30th day after the month’s end falls on a weekend or statutory holiday, the due date will be the previous business day.
Prior to this change, employers had up to 20 calendar days after the end of the month to remit contributions.
The new deadline applies to all CAAT participating employers on a go-forward basis as of January 1, 2024, and provides additional flexibility and reduces the risk of late fees.
Note that the due date for January contributions will be March 1.
If the revised contribution remittance timeline is not met, late fees continue to apply.
Data collection for 2023 year-end—due March 11
CAAT is asking all employers using the Data Collection Tool (DCT) to make every effort to meet the March 11 deadline. If you have any issues or questions, your Pension Analyst is available to help you.
We recognize there are additional challenges this year because of retroactive pay resulting from the decisions following Bill 124. Thank you for all the efforts you are making to finalize any retroactive pay records so pension data will be complete, accurate and up to date.
We provided full DCT training and refresher training sessions in early January. If you were unable to attend or want a refresher, we encourage you to view the recordings available on our website.
DBplus employers: Reminder of PA calculation change
Read this if: you are an employer with members in DBplus
Pension adjustments impact members’ RRSP contribution room. It is crucial to calculate them correctly and avoid revisions, which could result in some members going over their RRSP limit.
In 2023, CAAT mandated a new calculation method for pension adjustments (PAs) for DBplus members, for PAs in respect of the 2023 tax year and later. This method applies to all CAAT participating employers who have members in the DBplus plan design.
Use our DBplus Batch PA Calculator in the Employer Manual to check your results.
If you use a third-party payroll provider for PA calculations, ensure they are aware of the method applicable to 2023.
If you send PAs to your payroll provider, make sure you use the DBplus Batch PA Calculator to produce the data. If you have sent incorrect PAs, please work with your provider to correct the issue.
Annual statements: Teamwork is essential
We have started processing annual statements with the goal of sending 90% of them to members by May 31. This will ensure that members receive their statements before the June 30 legislated deadline, providing them with an update on their pension accruals and reinforcing the benefits of being part of the Plan.
To help us achieve this goal, please take note of the following timelines:
Employers working directly with CAAT:
For those of you who report your data annually through the Data Collection Tool (DCT), please visit Pension Administration Link and submit your data by March 11. If you encounter any data issues or missing forms during DCT reviews, please work with your Pension Analyst to resolve them as quickly as possible.
CAAT will work with you to validate this data, and your Pension Analyst will reach out to you with any questions they may have once the data has been submitted.
Thank you to everyone who submitted their data through payroll-based reporting (PBR) by the January 19 deadline! If you haven’t yet sent your data, please do so as soon as possible. Your Pension Analyst will be following up with you.
Employers working with CAAT administration partners:
Thank you for submitting your year-end data! We may reach out to you with additional questions as we work on the contribution reconciliation process and the testing of annual statements.
Ontario College employers:
Retroactive adjustments due to Bill 124 require extra processing time because of their significant volume and the due diligence needed to ensure they are accurately reflected in members’ pension records.
As a result, CAAT has reset its usual goal of sending 95% of statements by May 31 to 90%. This may mean that some members will receive their statements a bit later than they have in the past, although not later than required by legislation.
Members who received retroactive earnings adjustments will see a difference in their 2022 contribution balance and accrued pension disclosed on this year’s statement when compared to last year’s. If you receive questions from members, please direct them to CAAT’s contact centre.
New service standards summary
We have posted our updated service standards summary on the CAAT website for your information.
Last year, CAAT carried out a thorough review of these standards to ensure they reflect our focus on quality service to members and employers.
A few changes we would like to highlight include:
These changes are also aligned with the technology improvements we've made to our internal processes and systems.
Service standards enable the CAAT Pension Plan to complete each transaction at our desired service level. In addition, they:
- Support compliance with pension legislation
- Promote the delivery of quality service to members and employers
- Ensure mutual understanding of service expectations
Let your Pension Analyst know if you have any questions.
Reminder of 2024 rates and parameters
Late in 2023, we announced key rates and parameters for 2024, such as the year's maximum pensionable earnings and the money purchase limit. Please consult our Rates at a glance webpage and make sure you have updated any internal payroll systems accordingly.
Your Q&A corner
Welcome to your Q&A corner, where we’ll answer your questions about CAAT. To help keep you informed, we aim to feature one or two employer questions in each issue. Contact your employer Pension Analyst to submit your questions.
Q: If a member asks me for an estimate of their pension, what should I tell them?
A: Members have a few options for obtaining a pension estimate:
The best and fastest method is the pension estimator available in the member portal, My Pension. My Pension provides access to the member’s most recent data, so the results are available immediately.
For employers that work with an administration partner, estimators are available on the CAAT website. See Estimate your pension. To use these estimators, members enter pension data from their last annual member statement to attain their total pension benefit accrual which includes their past plan and DBplus.
Members who are looking for their accrued pension can always refer to their most recent Annual Pension Statement. Note that a statement is always based on data at the most recent year-end, so the amount will not reflect any pension they have earned since that year-end date.
Portal corner
Read this if: you are an employer who works directly with CAAT and your members have access to My Pension
We are making the retirement process easier!
As part of our commitment to enhancing our services, CAAT is making it easier for members to complete the retirement process online via My Pension once it has been initiated through their employer.
A new portal option will launch in 2024, giving members the ability to manage their retirement options and related documents through My Pension. Employers will also be able to track and receive status updates on these applications via PAL.
More information will be shared in the coming weeks! We recommend encouraging members to activate their My Pension accounts as soon as possible.
2024 planned outages for PAL
PAL will be unavailable for maintenance from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. on the following days:
- March 13
- April 10
- May 8
- June 5
- July 3
- July 31
- August 28
- September 25
- October 23
- November 20
- December 18
We want to hear from you
Have a question, comment or suggestion for us about PAL? Let us know.
Your feedback is important to us. Over the course of this year, we’re planning on adding more exciting features to improve PAL functionality.
PAL is an innovative platform that continues to expand and put information into a single, unified experience for you. Reach out to your Pension Analyst to share your thoughts at any time.
Tune in to the latest episode of Contributors!
CAAT’s award-winning podcast
In the latest episode, Russell Evans sits down with four experts in the Canadian pension space to uncover why defined benefit (DB) plans declined and are now making a prominent comeback. Tune in as Pamela Steer, President & CEO of CPA Canada, Stephen Poloz, former Governor of Bank of Canada and Special Advisor for Osler Hoskin & Harcourt, Keith Ambachtsheer, Co-founder, KPA Advisory Services LTD., and Paul Lai Fatt, Director of Pension Solutions at CAAT Pension Plan explore the full picture of DB plans’ past, present, and future in Canada.
Listen now
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Industry outlook: Gain insights from some of the industry’s forward thinkers
Take a closer look at the latest trends, research and insights across the industry. Share with your employees and network!
Everything you need to know about changes to labour and employment laws in 2024
The year 2024 will see several changes and additions to labour and employment laws across Canada. Among those having the greatest impact and offering the greatest opportunity for employers are Ontario’s Working for Workers Four Act, B.C.’s Workers Compensation Amendment Act, and the new Canada Revenue Agency administrative policy, according to Aleksandra Pressey, lawyer and workplace investigator at Williams HR Law.
Read now
CRA updates forms for home office expenses
The Canada Revenue Agency is updating its webpages and Form T2200 for the 2023 tax year. The updated form, which will be made available at the end of January 2024, along with other T1-related forms, will be easier to complete for employees who are only claiming a deduction for home office expenses.
Read now