Plan Features

We’re always looking to enhance the benefits for members whenever it’s feasible. Each year, TTCPP—through its Board of Directors—assesses whether we can make improvements, based on careful consideration of the affordability and long-term health of the Plan. Any benefit updates approved by the TTCPP Board also require TTC Board and TTCPP membership approval before the improvements come into effect. See the latest approved Plan updates.

We know every dollar counts and the price of everything only seems to go up. TTCPP helps offset the negative impact of inflation by providing conditional inflation protection increases – these are called cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) . These are periodic enhancements to your pension that help protect your purchasing power in retirement. In that sense, they act like a pay raise. When deemed feasible for the Plan, the Board may grant a COLA to our retired members’ monthly pension, usually retroactive to January 1st of the year it’s approved. We’re proud to say that the Board has provided inflation protection every year since 2011. For information on how COLA is calculated, see our COLA article.

Eager to start your next chapter? If you are at least age 50 with less than 29 years of service, you have the option to take an early retirement with a reduced pension. To learn more about your early retirement options or how your reduced pension amount is calculated, visit the Planning for Retirement section.

The bridge benefit is a supplementary benefit automatically paid by TTC Pension Plan to members who start collecting their pension prior to age 65. This payment is intended to supplement or “bridge” your income between your retirement date and the time you are eligible to collect Canada Pension Plan (CPP) benefits at age 65. Once you start collecting your TTCPP pension, if you elect to start collecting your CPP benefit as early as age 60, you will still receive the Bridge Benefit until age 65.

If your pension starts prior to age 65, you will automatically receive the bridge benefit. The bridge benefit is payable to you each month until age 65 or death, whichever occurs first, and is subject to cost-of-living increases. This benefit is only payable to you, the retired member, and would not become payable to your beneficiary. There is no requirement to pay back the bridge benefit to TTCPP as there is with the level income benefit. There is no cost associated or a requirement to pay any amount back for the bridge benefit.

Bridge benefit pension formula (payable to age 65)

The formula that yields a higher result will be used for your bridge benefit, which is payable to you until you reach age 65.

We know it’s important to take care of the people you love. You can protect your spouse or beneficiary with a monthly pension after you pass away. The death benefit paid to them will depend on whether you choose the survivorship or life-only guarantee option at retirement.

If you elected the survivorship option, your survivor benefit payment is payable only to the spouse you were married to at retirement. If your spouse passes away before you, nothing further is payable. In the event you remarry after retirement, there is no entitlement to a survivor pension for the new spouse.

If you are single and elected the life-only guarantee option, then the residual balance of any guarantee option can be paid to your beneficiary as either a monthly pension or can be converted into a lump-sum value. However, if the guarantee period has ended, then nothing further is payable.

If you’re retiring before age 65, you can take advantage of the level income option, which is an optional benefit that supplements your retirement pension until you reach age 65.

The level income benefit is paid by TTCPP directly. Once you reach age 65, your base pension will be reduced. Both the level income and the reduction are eligible for cost-of-living increases. Note that you must elect this option before your pension starts. You can elect the level income option on your future Old Age Security (OAS) pension, Canada Pension Plan (CPP) pension, or both.

At age 65, your TTCPP pension will be reduced by the maximum government rates for OAS and CPP that were in effect when you retired, plus any indexing approved by TTCPP. This will be deducted from your pension each month until the date of your death. Remember, this reduction is for your lifetime. Upon your death, the level income portion of your pension will stop and will not affect the life-only guarantee or survivorship option payable to your spouse or beneficiary.

If you take the level income option, you can still apply for early CPP directly from the government.

There may be times during your career when you will stop working for a period and, as a result, stop making contributions to the Plan. This may be because you are going back to school, or perhaps you left your employment and were subsequently rehired. These gaps in employment can impact your credited service and pensionable earnings. While some leaves of absence are protected—such as pregnancy, parental leave, Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) leaves and long-term disability—if your time away from work is not protected, you have the option to purchase your previous pension service to increase the value of your pension.