Plan member responsibilities

Educate Yourself About Your Public Service Pension Plan

Take advantage of the information and services available to you to ensure you are informed about your options, entitlements and benefits under your pension plan:

• Your Pension at a Glance provides a clear and concise summary of the main features of the public service pension plan.
• Attending Retirement Courses throughout various stages of your career can help you make informed decisions about your financial future. We recommend attending such courses when you begin your career in the federal public service, mid-stage and within 5 years of your planned retirement date.
• You and Your Pension Plan are short and informative pre-retirement videos that provide a quick summary of the retirement courses.
• Your Pension and Insurance Benefits Statement will be sent annually that provides you with personalized pension and insurance benefits entitlements, before taxes and deductions.

Register and Login to the Compensation Web Applications

View your personal pension and group benefits information and access secure messaging with the Pension Centre by logging into your account in the Compensation Web Applications (CWA) and selecting the Active Member Pension Applications. The Active Member Pension Applications offers you personalized pension tools that provide real-time data for up-to-the minute benefit calculations and estimates, including your annual Pension and Insurance Benefits Statement, the Pension Benefits Calculator and the Service Buyback Estimator. If you have not yet registered to CWA, please follow the Enrolment Instructions.

Note: These applications are not accessible from outside the Government of Canada network. In addition, your organization must be signed up with CWA for you to use these applications. To find out if your organization has access to CWA, contact your departmental help desk.

Name a Beneficiary for Your Supplementary Death Benefit

The Supplementary Death Benefit (SDB) is similar to a decreasing term life insurance protection, which is designed to cover members of the public service pension plan. For most employees, coverage begins when you become a member of the public service pension plan. In the event of your death, the SDB is paid to your beneficiary or, in the absence of a beneficiary; the benefit is paid to your estate.

If you have not yet designated a beneficiary or you wish to change your beneficiary, you must complete the PWGSC-TPSGC 2196 - Naming or Substitution of a Beneficiary form.

Contact the Government of Canada Pension Centre (Pension Centre)

If you are an employee:

• Provide the Pension Centre with your contact information (e.g. telephone numbers, mailing address, email address, beneficiary or dependant information, etc). You should always inform the Pension Centre of any changes to this information.
• You should always inform the Pension Centre of any changes to this information. If you have access to the Compensation Web Applications (CWA), update your pension contact information online using the Active Member Pension applications. By providing your contact information, you are ensuring that the Pension Centre is able to provide you with information packages when applicable.
• When contacting the Pension Centre by telephone, please have your pension number ready. If you are writing, please include your:
  • pension number or Personal Record Identifier (PRI);
  • surname, first name and initials;
  • home address (with postal code); and,
  • telephone number (with area code).

  By providing this information, the Pension Centre will easily access your account.

Note: If you are emailing the Pension Centre, please use the Secure Messaging feature available through the Compensation Web Applications (CWA). The Pension Centre will then be able to provide you with information through the Secure Messaging Mailbox.

If you are taking a leave of absence of more than six days: Contact the Pension Centre to ensure you are provided with information related to the payment of the pension contributions required for this period of leave.

If you are terminating employment or planning to retire: Contact the Pension Centre to ensure you are provided with a personalized estimate package outlining your pension and group benefit plan options. They will also send you the forms required to initiate your retirement process and direct deposit for your pension benefit payments. You will need to submit your resignation letter to your manager for approval. The accepted resignation letter should also be sent to the Public Service Pay Centre or your departmental compensation service who will finalize your pay account, including payment of any severance pay to which you may be entitled. This should be done at least 3 months in advance of your planned retirement date.