Staff Pension Plan: 2024 COLA Update

The UVic Staff Pension Plan is indexed for inflation, which means that each year pensions receive a Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA). This adjustment is calculated by determining the average Canadian Consumer Price Index (CPI) of the past 12 months, compared to the average of the previous 12 months.

The indexing adjustment for 2024, based on the Consumer Price Index, is 4.7%. This exceeds the established COLA cap by 1.7%.

Under the provisions of the UVic Staff Pension Plan, COLA is capped at 3% annually. Plan documents allow for the possibility of supplemental payments for pensioners 66 years of
age or older. For pensioners under this age threshold, any COLA amount over the 3% cap is rolled forward and applied in subsequent years wherein the cost of living is assessed at less than 3%.

The Staff Pension Plan pensioners aged 66 and over will be receiving a supplemental Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) in 2024. This represents an additional 1.7% increase from the 3.0% Cost of Living Adjustment, which takes effect January 1st. The total pension increase for pensioners aged 66 and over will align with the assessed Cost of Living at 4.7%. This increase will be prorated for pensioners who have retired part way through 2023.

For pensioners in the Staff Pension Plan who are under the age of 66, the carry-over of 1.7% of additional COLA will be applied in years in which the COLA is assessed as being under 3%.

Pensioners in the Staff Pension Plan will receive their annual confirmation of pension information in the mail within the next week. This statement will reflect that the COLA increase effective January 1, 2024.

Information on the UVic Staff Pension Plan is available in detail on this website, or by contacting Pension Services at 250-721-7030, or pensions@uvic.ca.