In this edition
What's new at CAAT
GROWTHplus is here!
GROWTHplus Investment Account is two months old! Since its launch on October 1, members have expressed interest in CAAT’s new optional savings account so they can grow their tax-sheltered savings and benefit from CAAT’s investment returns.
GROWTHplus also provides value for employers that want an addition to their total rewards packages.
With GROWTHplus you can:
- Offer an enhanced employee benefit at no employer cost
GROWTHplus is a member-focused offering and there is no need for additional employer contributions.
- Do more for your employees
GROWTHplus is an add-on that provides Plan members with the option to grow additional tax-sheltered savings and benefit from CAAT’s investment returns. It does not replace or change the defined benefit pension that members are earning or receiving today.
All with no heavy lifting required. CAAT works directly with members who wish to participate in GROWTHplus, helping them transfer their funds into GROWTHplus – whether it’s through the online My Pension portal or by contacting our team.
Discover more about GROWTHplus by checking out the employer resources below.
Questions?
Contact your Pension Analyst for more information.
PAL access for all employers
We’re pleased to announce that all employers will now have access to Pension Administration Link (PAL), CAAT’s online portal for employers. If you are currently working with an administration partner, you will now be able to log in to PAL to use the contribution remittance functionality.
Although not all of PAL’s processes are available at this time, it will now be easier to remit, view, and edit contribution remittances without the need for paper forms. Those of you who will be getting this new access will receive an email from your Pension Analyst with instructions and a link to a video that will guide you through the process. You’ll also receive an email with your temporary password that you’ll use to set up your PAL access.
If you have questions along the way, reach out to your Pension Analyst for help as you get up to speed on accessing PAL and using it for contribution remittances.
Reminder: Upcoming Plan changes
2025 is quickly approaching, and with it, valuable pension changes to both DBprime and DBplus.
What’s changing?
DBprime
Member and employer contribution rates will decrease from 11.2% to 10.2% on earnings up to the Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings (YMPE) and from 14.8% to 13.8% on earnings above the YMPE.
Payroll systems will need to be updated to take the lower rate into consideration. The new rates apply on the entire first pay processed in January 2025. This means the new contribution rates will apply to the whole pay period if that pay period ends in 2025, even if the pay period includes days in 2024. For example, if your pay date is January 3, 2025, but the majority of the pay period is in 2024, the changes will apply for that whole pay period.
For college employers that participate in the CAAT Retirement Compensation Agreement (RCA), contributions on RCA earnings will increase. Participating employers will receive additional communications with further details.
DBplus
The DBplus pension factor used to calculate pensions earned on or after January 1, 2025, will increase from 8.5% to 9.5%. Members will see their DBplus pensions grow over 10% faster, without changing their contribution rates.
Similar to the change for DBprime, the new pension factor will apply to the whole pay period ending in 2025, even if the pay period includes days in 2024. Updates to payroll systems or HRIS may need to be made if the systems are used to calculate Pension Adjustments.
Questions?
For more information on the changes rolling out January 1, 2025, download the 2025 Plan Changes fact sheet on our Employer Resources webpage, or reach out to your Pension Analyst.
Recruitment Toolkit customized sessions
Looking to enhance your recruitment and retention strategies in 2025? With CAAT’s Recruitment Toolkit, it’s easier than ever to leverage your CAAT pension in attracting new candidates and strengthening your retention. We provide 30-minute customized sessions with our pension experts to help you effectively use the Toolkit on your Careers website and elevate your total rewards program strategy.
Contact debora@caatpension.ca to schedule your session today!
Member learning sessions
Understanding the value of your pension is the gift that keeps on giving. As 2025 approaches, encourage your members to register for a member webinar series next year! These free online learning sessions are delivered each month by CAAT’s pension experts.
Our 2025 sessions will be added to the Member Presentations page in the coming weeks. Members can ask questions, learn more about their valuable CAAT pension, receive retirement planning insights and so much more!
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. Reach out to book sessions on:
- 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 dive deeper into the details of their pension.
Year-end preparations for 2024 annual statements
Reminder to review your 2023 contribution reconciliations
2023 contribution reconciliation reports are being processed and will be delivered to employers over the next few weeks. The reconciliation process allows CAAT to confirm if the total contributions that should be credited to members’ accounts match up with the contributions received or if there is a variance.
Once the report is ready, you will receive a notification that the final package is available in PAL for your review. If a refund is due from CAAT, employers can take it as a credit against their next monthly remittance. For amounts due to CAAT, please submit your payment along with your monthly remittance as soon as possible after you have received the report. Reach out to your Pension Analyst for any questions/concerns.
2024 annual statement process
The 2024 annual statement process will be kicking off in early 2025, and employers play a fundamental role in the successful deployment of member statements. We appreciate your efforts to submit all necessary forms and data over the past year and look forward to working with you for an efficient and smooth rollout of annual statements in mid-2025.
Details, including submission deadlines, will be shared in upcoming newsletter issues and Employer Update webinars. The next Update webinar will be held on December 10, 2024.
Updates and reminders
2025 rates and parameters
CAAT has updated the Rates at a glance page on our website with important rates and parameters that will impact 2024 calculations, including changes affecting only DBprime and changes affecting only DBplus. These will help you update your payroll systems as needed.
Contact your Pension Analyst for any questions.
Upcoming changes to the DBplus Estimator
For employers that joined CAAT after 2019 or through a merger
As of January 2025, there will be a change to the DBplus Estimator* on the CAAT website, which is used by members whose employer joined CAAT after 2019.
Currently, members who use the DBplus Estimator must select their employer's name from a list to ensure the correct contribution rates are used in the calculation. As CAAT continues to welcome new employers into the Plan, the list of employer names continues to grow. With over 600 participating employers, the effort needed to ensure the accuracy of DBplus contribution rates in the Estimator is also increasing.
As a result, starting early January, most employer names will be removed from the list, and members who would like to use the DBplus Estimator will need to input their contribution rates.
Members who have access to My Pension should be encouraged to log in to take advantage of the easy-to-use estimator that is already populated with their personal information and contribution rates.
*Note: There is no change for members who work for employers that joined through a merger, or who cannot access My Pension. They will still be able select their employer's name to use the website DBplus Estimator.
Improving the employer experience
The employer experience is critical to CAAT’s success, with your feedback and input shaping ongoing improvements to the Plan. In 2024, we were delighted to provide the following updates and new features to participating members and employers:
- Later remittance deadlines
As of January 1, 2024, the deadline to remit contributions is a business day no more than 30 days following the end of the month to which the contributions relate.
- Updates to CAAT’s service standards
These changes ensure that CAAT continues to provide quality service to members and employers and align with the technological improvements we’ve made to our systems.
- A refreshed Employer Resources page
Onboarding new members and recruiting gets a little easier with the library of resources CAAT has created to support you!
- Retire Online (portal only)
This new feature gives members the ability to elect and manage their retirement options and related documents online through My Pension, as well as providing employers with the ability to track the progress of member retirements.
- CAAT Employer Manual – now in French!
The Employer Manual is available in PAL in both English and French, to better serve employers across Canada in their administrative work.
Stay tuned for further enhancements in 2025 as we strive to meet the evolving needs of our members and employers.
Your Q&A corner
Welcome to your Q&A corner, where we answer your questions about CAAT. Contact your employer Pension Analyst to submit your questions.
Q: Is it possible for a member to opt out of enrolling the Plan, stop contributing once enrolled, or access CAAT benefits for financial hardship reasons?
A: No.
Enrollment
Depending on an employer’s Participation Agreement and applicable legislation, membership in the CAAT Pension Plan may be mandatory or optional.
- If enrolment is mandatory for a particular class of employee, then the employee is required to enrol as soon as they meet the criteria for membership (e.g., the employer may have set a waiting period).
- If enrolment is optional for a particular class of employee, then the employee may choose to enrol or decline enrolment. In most cases (subject to the terms of the employer’s Participation Agreement) if an employee for whom enrolment is optional declines to enrol when first eligible, they may choose to enrol at a future date if they wish. Their enrolment will not be retroactive to the date they were first eligible.
Stopping contributions
In accordance with the Plan Text, once a member has enrolled, they must continue to contribute for as long as they are employed and receiving pensionable earnings.
The exception would be members on specific leaves who, in accordance with the Plan Text, terms of a Participation Agreement, and applicable legislation, may have the option to contribute during these periods.
Access CAAT benefits
CAAT members may only access their pension upon termination of their membership. In accordance with pension standards legislation and the Plan Text, active members who are still employed by their CAAT employer cannot access their pension.
The only exception is in cases where the member has a shortened life expectancy.
Non-contributing members reports due December 31
Read this if… you are an Ontario college employer
The non-contributing (NC) reporting process asks Ontario college employers to report to CAAT any other than regular full time (OTRFT) members on a quarterly basis. Thank you to all employers who submitted their last batch of data by the October 31 deadline. The final deadline for 2024 will be December 31, 2024.
If you have up to 25 members to report, please send the data through PAL. If you have more than 25 members to report, please report them on this spreadsheet and use S-Doc to submit them to the Plan.
Holiday office closure
CAAT's office will be closed on the afternoon of December 13, 2024. The office will be closed for the holidays from noon on Tuesday, December 24 through Monday, December 30, 2024, and on Wednesday, January 1, 2025. The office will re-open on Thursday, January 2, 2025.
Portal corner
Read this if… you are an employer who works directly with CAAT and uses PAL
New Employer reports feature: feedback welcome!
It has been almost two months since CAAT launched our new Employer reports functionality on PAL. We have heard from several employers that they are very pleased to have the option to run one of the five available reports whenever they want and use it to support their plan administration tasks.
We encourage you to try out this new feature and share your feedback with us! Please let your Pension Analyst know which reports you have downloaded and how you are using them. A fact sheet including tips for interpreting the reports is available from your Pension Analyst.
CAAT continues to explore other types of reports, so if there are specific reports you would like to see, we value your input.
Planned outages for PAL
PAL will be unavailable for maintenance from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. on the following days:
- December 18, 2024
- January 29, 2025
- February 26, 2025
We want to hear from you
PAL is an innovative platform that continues to expand and put information into a single, unified experience for you. Over the course of this year, we’re planning on adding more exciting features to improve its functionality.
Your feedback is important to us. Have a question, comment or suggestion for us about PAL? Reach out to your Pension Analyst to share your thoughts at any time.
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.
December 10: Quarterly Employer Update, 1 p.m.
This webinar will update you about plan news, upcoming events, reminders and more.
Employer education sessions (for employers working directly with CAAT)
For employers using payroll-based reporting (PBR)
- PBR: Annual file for PA and status changes — January 15, 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 2024 data and provide an overview of and examples of pension adjustment (PA) calculations.
For employers using the Data Collection Tool (DCT)
- DCT training refresher — January 14, 10 a.m.
- DCT full training — January 16, 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.
Watch your email for an invitation!
For recordings of previous sessions, please visit our Employer Education Guide
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