Proposed Expansion of the Operational Service Early Retirement Program
The following information are proposals that are subject to approval by Parliament of Budget 2025 and the budget implementation legislation. Please bookmark this page and refer to it for updates.
The Government of Canada reaffirmed its commitment to expand the operational service early retirement program to frontline employees of additional occupational groups. Implementation of this commitment requires legislative and regulatory changes.
The operational service program allows certain eligible plan members to retire earlier with an immediate unreduced pension after completing 25 years of actual operational service. Eligible plan members can also retire at age 50 with at least 10 years of actual and 10 years of “deemed” operational service.
Like all other members of the public service pension plan, employees who participate in the program accrue pensionable service at a rate of approximately 2% per year. This means that retiring after 25 years will provide an approximate 50% pension benefit in retirement.
Who is affected by this change
This change would affect frontline employees of additional occupational groups, recognizing the demanding work they do every day to keep Canadians safe and secure.
This change would apply to frontline federal workers in the following groups: border services officers, parliamentary protection officers, search and rescue personnel, and both federal and territorial firefighters, paramedics, and correctional employees.
Next steps
The proposals outlined on this page are subject to approval by Parliament of the Budget and the budget implementation legislation. If approved, all the necessary information will be communicated to frontline employees of additional occupational groups, including any steps they would need to take.
For more information
For more information on the early retirement program expansion, consult the:
- Expanded Early Retirement Eligibility under the Public Service Pension Plan backgrounder, or
- Pension options currently available to operational service