What is the HEPP COLA Plan?

The Healthcare Employees' Pension Plan Cost of Living Adjustment (HEPP COLA) Plan helps your pension keep up with the cost of living

When you retire under the Healthcare Employees’ Pension Plan (HEPP), you can be confident that you will not outlive your pension. You will also know how much money you can expect to receive every month. 

What you won’t know is how much more the things you buy are going to cost each year. 

The HEPP COLA Plan was established in 2010 to help lessen the impact of increases in the cost of living for retired members.

While the HEPP Plan Text already provides for the payment of ad hoc COLA increases from the Pension Plan Fund, HEPP can only pay a COLA benefit when there are enough additional funds available. The last time HEPP paid a COLA benefit was in 2002.

COLA Plan Funds provide for more regular COLA benefit payments.

The HEPP COLA Plan was created through consultation with participating unions and employers with the goal of providing more regular COLA payments to retired HEPP members. 

It consists of two funds:

• The Active Members Fund, for HEPP members who retired, or will retire, on or after October 1, 2009, and
• The Past Retirees Fund, for HEPP members who retired on or before September 30, 2009.

These funds are separate from HEPP and are funded by equal contributions from employers and employees.

Payments into the HEPP COLA Plan began in 2014 and starting in 2018 the Plan will pay a COLA amount each year to all current and future HEPP retirees, if sufficient funds are available.