News Release June 29, 2017 Improving Sustainability and Transparency for More Workplace Pension Plans Ontario is taking further steps to help ensure workers' retirement benefits are protected and maintained, while helping businesses compete and attract skilled workers. The province is implementing a new framework for target benefit multi-employer pension plans that will help ensure these plans are healthy and sustainable over the long term. The new framework will replace the time-limited funding regulations currently in place for specified Ontario multi-employer pension plans (SOMEPPs). The changes would provide these plans with a permanent exemption from funding on a solvency basis while also: - Enhancing long term plan sustainability and benefit security by requiring the funding of a reserve to assist plans in overcoming adverse events, such as poor investment returns
- Helping ensure target benefits are predictable by lowering the risk of benefit reductions
- Improving transparency so plan participants understand how their plans are governed and operated
The government intends to introduce legislation in the fall and regulation in 2018 to implement these changes and will be consulting on the details of the new framework, including the design of the reserve and how plans transition to the new requirements. As an interim step, the government is extending the temporary solvency funding exemption currently in place for SOMEPPs by one year to August 2018. Helping businesses maintain workplace pension plans while protecting benefit security for workers and retirees is part of our plan to create jobs, grow our economy and help people in their everyday lives. |