Death

Your pension isn’t just about you - it’s also about providing financial security to those who depend on you. With that in mind, your PJPP pension includes valuable death benefits.

The amount of the death benefit will depend on a number of factors, such as whether you have a spouse or eligible children, and whether you die before or after retirement.

Death before retirement

If you die before you start receiving a pension from the PJPP, the death benefit will depend on whether you’ve met the Basic Service Requirement (BSR).

If you have met the BSR, a survivor pension equal to 60% of the pension you would have earned had you served until age 75 (including any service enhancements) will:

1. be paid to your surviving spouse, or
2. if you have no surviving spouse, be divided equally among your eligible children.

Surviving spouse or eligible child

A surviving spouse will receive a survivor allowance for life – even if they remarry.

A child will receive a survivor allowance until such time as they no longer qualifies as an eligible child.

A survivor allowance approved for payment to an eligible disabled child, will continue to be paid regardless of the child’s age. That pension will continue until such time as the child recovers from the disability.

Survivor allowances are protected against inflation. The survivor allowance is increased every January 1st according to the same formula used for the pensioner.

If you do not have an eligible spouse or child, a refund of your contributions – plus interest, but less applicable taxes – will be paid to your personal representative (typically, the executor of your estate) as a lump-sum payment.

If you have not met the BSR, a refund of your contributions – plus interest, but less applicable taxes – will be paid to your personal representative as a lump-sum payment.

Non-pension death benefits

A basic life insurance benefit equal to five times your salary will be paid from the group life insurance plan if the date of your death precedes the earlier of:

1. the end of the month in which you meet the BSR, or
2. your 70th birthday.

If this basic life insurance benefit is paid out, there will be no monthly survivor benefit. The beneficiary of this benefit will be the person(s) who you designated as the beneficiary of the group life insurance administered by your payroll administrator.

For more information, please contact your payroll administrator.