In this edition
What’s new at CAAT
Join our employer Insights Panel
Do you want to support CAAT’s mission to improve retirement security for all Canadians? Are you interested in helping shape the future of your pension plan? Now’s your chance – join the new CAAT Insights Panel for Employers.
As a member of the CAAT Insights Panel for Employers, you’ll participate in short surveys and polls that will help us understand your business needs. You’ll have the opportunity to provide input on new services, test drive new resources and share feedback that will shape CAAT’s future offerings for you and your employees.
Being a member will be a small commitment — with a big impact — that will help us continue to evolve and innovate the Plan for you and your members.
Sign up here
Unlock the Power of Your Pension
CAAT recently hosted The Power of Your Pension webinar, where we demonstrated concrete ways you can leverage the valuable pension you offer in your recruitment and retention efforts.
Missed it or want a refresher? We’ve got you! We’ve created a PDF summary of the webinar’s key takeaways to help you learn how to:
- Enhance your total rewards strategy
- Boost recruitment and retention
- Drive employee engagement and culture
- Leverage the resources CAAT has created for you
Download the summary
Explore employer resources
CAAT also just launched our new employer resources page, where you can find tools to help you communicate to your employees about their pension plan. These include resources to share with employees to help them understand the value of their plan, and resources to help you integrate messaging about the great benefit you offer into your internal communications.
Visit the page today to make talking to employees about their pension easier than ever.
Explore employer resources
Did you attend the Power of Your Pension webinar? Please take a moment to give us you feedback.
Take the survey
Member learning sessions
"All-member" webinar series
Give your employees the gift of pension education. As we look forward to 2024, encourage your members to register for our popular "all-member" webinar series next year!
These free online learning sessions are delivered each month by CAAT’s pension experts. Members can ask questions, learn more about their valuable CAAT pension, receive retirement planning insights and so much more.
Our 2024 sessions will be published in the coming weeks! So keep an eye on the Member Presentations page on our website, where members can sign-up for the webinar that helps them achieve their financial goals!
Book a customized session for your members today!
Support your HR goals by booking customized member learning sessions. 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 into 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 admin partner, we highly encourage you to book a customized session for your members to help them dive deeper into the details of their pension.
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: When an employee has the option to enrol in the Plan, how should we determine their enrolment date if they don’t choose to enrol during the first available pay period?
A: Following a new hire, there is a 31-day grace period for enrolment. If the new hire returns their enrolment application within 31 days following being hired, their start date is the date of hire.
If they return their application after 31 days, they should be enrolled as of the beginning of the next payroll cycle. The employer can backdate the enrolment date to the beginning of the current pay period, if the employer and the enrolling member both agree to do so.
Contributions must start from the date of membership on earnings earned after that date.
If the delay in enrolment processing was caused by the employer, retroactive contributions are to be made by both the employee and the employer.
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 — December 12 at 1 p.m.
Don’t miss the last Employer Update for 2023. We will update you about plan news, upcoming events, reminders and more, to help kickstart your 2024 pension-related projects.
Register now
Employer education sessions
For employers using payroll-based reporting (PBR)
- PBR: Annual file for PA and status changes — January 9, 1 p.m.
This session will review the year-end updates that can be reported on your PBR file, including leaves of absence. We will review the data collection schedule and deadline for reporting 2023 data and provide an overview and examples of pension adjustment (PA) calculations.
For employers using the Data Collection Tool (DCT)
- DCT training refresher — January 16, 10 a.m.
- DCT full training — January 18, 10 a.m.
Whether you’re new to the data collection process or just want a quick reminder, these sessions will review the annual data collection process using the Data Collection Tool (DCT). This process collects members’ pension data and reconciles contribution remittances to make it possible for CAAT to satisfy reporting requirements and issue annual pension statements.
Any employer with DCT responsibilities may attend the full training. You may prefer the refresher training if you have experience with DCT.
Updates and reminders
2024 rates and parameters now available
CAAT has updated the Rates at a glance page on our website with important rates and parameters that will impact 2024 calculations. These will help you update your payroll systems as needed.
Here’s a summary of the rates affecting DBprime and DBplus:
*Some DBplus employers have phased-in contribution rates, which may change in 2024.
For more information on these rates and parameters, including changes affecting only DBprime and changes affecting only DBplus, visit the Rates at a glance page.
Any questions? Contact your employer Pension Analyst.
2023 Data submission deadlines
Read this if: you are an employer who works directly with CAAT
Final 2023 payroll files are due by Friday, January 19, 2024.
2023 data submitted via the Data Collection Tool (DCT) is due by Wednesday, March 6, 2024.
Improvements coming to the member contact centre
Read this if: you are an employer who works directly with CAAT
This month, we’re updating the Interactive Voice Response system in our call centre to improve members’ experience when they call CAAT Member Services.
Members will have the option to enter their CAAT Member ID using their keypad to identify themselves to our Customer Service Representatives. This will make it easier and faster for members to reach a live person.
We will also provide more menu options so members can specify what they are calling about. Whether they’re calling to ask for their Member ID or asking for the status of an option document, they will be routed to specific call queues staffed by specialists in that topic.
We’re always ready to answer members’ questions from Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. ET, at 416-673-9000 or toll-free 1-866-350-2228.
Retirees receiving retroactive pay settlements
Read this if: you are an Ontario college employer
Thank you to all employers who met our October 20 deadline for submitting retroactive pensionable earnings and contribution data for eligible Faculty members.
You have made it possible for eligible retired Faculty members to receive their retroactive pension payments in November. This month, they will also start receiving an increased pension payment that reflects the retroactive pay.
Full-time Support and Administration retirees that received retroactive earnings will see their pension amounts revised with their February 1, 2024 pension payment. Please provide the earnings and contributions for these groups no later than December 14, 2023. Thank you to those employers who have already provided the data for these members, as we will be processing these revised payments over the next few weeks.
Reporting retroactive earnings and contributions paid out in 2023
For any members who were active in 2023 and will be on the 2023 DCT, please report the total retroactive earnings and contributions with the member’s data in the DCT. You will need to load the retroactive earnings allocation report to identify earnings paid for prior years.
For members who were not active in 2023, the retroactive contributions should be reconciled outside of the DCT. You will need to add the total amount to your final reconciliation report. We will work with employers to confirm the final amounts to be added for these inactive members.
New service standards coming in January
CAAT is committed to providing timely service to our employers and members. Our current service standards were established in 2015 and comply with pension disclosure regulations. We are proud that we continually meet or exceed our service standards for members and employers.
In 2023, we completed a detailed review of our service standards to determine if they continued to meet the needs of our employers and members. Our review included surveying CAAT employers, peer plans and other industry service providers to assess current industry standards.
We learned that CAAT’s service standards are aligned with our peers and industry standards, and that we are more transparent with the publication of our results. We also determined that CAAT’s landscape has changed with the introduction of the member and employer portals and payroll-based reporting.
We are happy to report that we are updating some of our standards to reflect our sustained performance over the last few years. These updates will positively affect CAAT members and we are sharing them with you so that they — and you — know what you can expect from us.
Here are some of the updates you can look forward to:
- Faster response times for:
- Death benefits: from 30 days to 15 business days, to reflect a better survivor experience
- Termination benefits: from 60 days to 15 business days, to reflect the need for timely member payments
- Pension estimate response time will increase to 30 days from 10 days as part of our strategic decision to encourage members to use the portal for full-service pension estimates
- We will answer 85% of member calls within 90 seconds or less.
While we work according to these updated standards, we encourage you to continue reporting transactions in a timely manner to help meet our goals as a team.
The updated service standards will be in effect as of January 1, 2024 and we will be posting them on our website. In the meantime, the current standards are still accessible at the same link.
Holiday office closure
CAAT's office will be closed on the afternoon of December 15, 2023 and again for the holidays from Monday, December 25, 2023 to Monday, January 1, 2024. The office will re-open on Tuesday, January 2, 2024.
What’s new in PAL and My Pension
Read this if: you are an employer who works directly with CAAT and who uses PAL
New pension confirmation process coming in 2024
CAAT has made it easier for retired members to securely provide their information online via My Pension during the annual pension confirmation process.
This new process will launch in 2024, allowing retirees to provide their confirmation via My Pension with just a few clicks — and without having to mail a form to CAAT. Retired members who prefer to receive a paper form will continue to have that option.
This risk management process is part of CAAT’s due diligence to ensure that all pension payments are reaching the right recipients and that contact information is up to date. It also helps determine if we have missed being notified about any retirees that have passed away.
More information about the change will be included in 2024’s second quarter retiree newsletter, which is included with each retired member’s annual statement.
The updated Employer Manual has launched
Have you visited CAAT’s updated Employer Manual yet?
Enjoy a more customized experience
If your organization only offers DBplus, you’ll no longer see information about DBprime. This makes it easier for you to access only the information that’s relevant to you.
If you have employees that change plan designs, or if you offer both DBprime and DBplus, you will continue to see information about both plan designs.
We’ve also added:
- Instructions for using our employer portal, PAL
- Links to relevant forms in the process sections
- More intuitive navigation
Send us your feedback!
We’re always interested in your feedback. Let your Pension Analyst know if you have comments or suggestions about the Manual.
Sign in to PAL
Coming in 2024: Message Centre improvements
We’ve heard your feedback and are making improvements to the Message Centre in PAL.
CAAT is working on making it easier for you to send and receive messages through the Message Centre, and for us to respond to your requests within PAL. These improvements will help protect your confidential information since the Message Centre is more secure than sending emails.
Look out for more details in future newsletters.
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 the next year, we’re planning on adding more exciting features to improve PAL functionality.
It’s 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 Brett Belchetz, CEO and Co-founder of Maple, to unpack Brett’s journey from ER doctor to the founder of a leading-edge virtual healthcare platform. The pair dive deep into Maple’s transformational pivot and how other organizations can learn from it.
Listen now
Can’t get enough Contributors?
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!
Attracting and retaining talent is a major global business risk, leaders say
Aon has released the findings from its 2023 Global Risk Management Survey, reflecting input from nearly 3,000 risk managers, C-suite leaders, and other executives from over 60 countries. Human capital challenges, previously viewed as a “people problem,” have become a top business risk, ranking fourth globally in the survey, up from not making the top 10 in 2021.
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Tax filing will soon require details around dental care
Employers will soon have to specify details around dental care spending for employees when filing taxes.
Starting with the 2023 tax year, employers issuing T4 Statement of Remuneration Paid and T4A Statement of Pension, Retirement, Annuity, and Other Income must report on a T4 or T4A slip whether – on Dec. 31 of the taxation year to which the information return relates – a payee or any of their family members were eligible to access dental insurance, or dental coverage of any kind, including health spending and wellness accounts, due to their current or former employment.
Read now