Updates on the PLD transition to CFHD and the CAF 2023 Economic Increase

August 03, 2023 - Defence Stories

Transitioning to Canadian Forces Housing Differential and the *New* Provisional Post-Living Differential

Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) members, we appreciate the vital role you and your families play in our institution. Your feedback on the transition from Post-Living Differential (PLD) to Canadian Forces Housing Differential (CFHD) has been heard, and we have reviewed the implementation process. After submitting a proposal to Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS) to address these concerns, TBS has approved a new and interim policy, the Provisional Post-Living Differential (PPLD), to assist you in transitioning from the Post-Living Differential (PLD) or Transitional Post-Living Differential (TPLD) to the Canadian Forces Housing Differential (CFHD) this summer.

PPLD is focused primarily on providing a gradual transition from PLD and TPLD to CFHD. It is applicable to all Regular or Reserve Force members who meet the conditions of either CBI 205.45 (PLD) or 205.452 (TPLD) on June 30, 2023, and who will see a decrease in their monthly housing benefit when transitioning from PLD/TPLD to CFHD on July 1, 2023. Like CFHD, it is a taxable benefit.

PPLD payments are monthly and will gradually decrease between July 2023 to July 2026. As your circumstances are unique and will also uniquely change from one year to the next with promotion, pay-incentive level changes, and change in living status with other CAF member(s), you are advised to refer to the respective policies of both CFHD and PPLD to verify your individual calculations by confirming which caveats apply to your circumstances. You can also visit your orderly room to have your PPLD rate calculated for your specific circumstances.

PPLD will remain in effect until June 30, 2026, at which time it will cease for all CAF members. Your individual entitlement will cease prior to that time if you are posted to a new location, or if your PPLD calculation amounts to a negative value.

No action is required from any qualifying CAF members to initiate their PPLD payments, as the pay system will generate all calculations automatically. Our team is working hard to program the pay system to deliver this benefit and early indications are that eligible members can expect to start receiving PPLD, including a lump sum payment to cover the July to October timeframe, on their mid-October pay.

Please see our PPLD FAQs for additional details.

CAF Economic Increases in 2023

Additionally, for Regular or Reserve Force Non-Commissioned Members (NCMs), General Service Officers (GSOs) and Pilots at the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel (LCol)/ Commander (Cdr) and below, as well as Medical and Dental Officers, your economic increases for 2021-2025 as previously announced in March of this year, have recently been renegotiated with Treasury Board to more closely align with the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) ratification.

Your revised economic increases, now a compounded increase of 12.03%, up from 10.4%, is as follows:

• Effective April 1, 2021, an economic increase of 1.50%;
• Effective April 1, 2022, an economic increase of 4.79%;
• Effective April 1, 2023, an economic increase of 3.00%; and
• Effective April 1, 2024, an economic increase of 2.26%.

To allow time for the required (and numerous) adjustments in the pay system, members will see three lump-sum payments over the next several months:

• July 15, 2023: payment of the initially negotiated economic increases previously announced;
• As early as October 2023: Back-payment and commencement of the monthly PPLD benefit for those entitled; and
• As early as November 2023: Payment of the revised economic increases.

You will note that these rates do not align perfectly with the PSAC economic increases. This discrepancy is explained by our practice of distributing funding across multiple applications aligned with compensation and benefits priorities. This year’s priorities included the additional pay increase for NCMs in Standard and Specialist 2 Trade groups.

CAF members who released after March 31, 2021, will be eligible for a lump sum back payment and adjustments to their CF Severance Pay based on the new rates effective at release. With the announcement of this second tranche of the economic increase, delivery of both portions of the economic increases to former members is expected in the Fall.

Former members who have not received the lump sum back payment by the end of November 2023 should contact the Release Benefits Administration via email at Release_Benefits_Administration@forces.gc.ca to inquire about their own specific case. An estimated 2,000 former CAF members received CF Severance Pay at the time of their release. These amounts will be recalculated, with adjustments sent to the former members’ bank accounts by November 2023.

Economic increases for General and Flag Officers are subject to a separate Treasury Board process and are being communicated separately.

Any questions can be directed to your orderly room staff, or to the Administrative Response Center.

Brigadier-General Virginia Tattersall
Director General Compensation and Benefits, Canadian Armed Forces