In this edition: The new Employer portal, Pension Administration Link, is live, Your first look at the member portal, Extension to IDEL, Annual data submission starts soon, Calendar of events

Employer portal is live!

The new employer portal, Pension Administration Link, went live on January 4. We have already had more than 90% of users log into the portal, and online transactions are coming in. Thank you to those who logged in to use and explore the new tool. If you haven’t had the chance to log in, check your inbox to find your temporary password so you can start using Pension Administration Link.

Remember, your Employer PA is just a call away to help guide you through the portal and answer any questions you may have.

No more forms: When you use Pension Administration Link, you don’t have to send forms via S-Doc. Initiate enrolments, pension and termination transactions, and changes of employment information easily in Pension Administration Link. Plus, easily view member data any time you want.

Access for your whole team: Please let your Employer PA know as soon as possible if:

• someone who is no longer with your organization and needs their access removed
• there are members of your team that need access to Pension Administration Link

In a future phase Pension Administration Link will enable you to perform user maintenance yourself. You will designate a team member who can add and remove those who have access to the portal.

Member portal – employer access comes first

On January 25, you will have the first access to the all-new member portal, My Pension, along with Plan governors. Join us on January 28, for an interactive Q&A session where employers can ask questions about both portals. In the interim, please reach out to your Employer PA with any questions.

Members will start to have access in the weeks following employer access, and we will begin communicating with them about their registration this month.

Communicating to members

We have introduced the portal to members through member newsletters, and the official rollout starts on January 22. We will mail out registration packages to all members who are able to access the portal. At the same time, your Employer PA will be sending you a sample email that we'd like you to send to your members, to let them know that this valuable tool is going to be available to them. After the initial rollout is complete, we'll continue to promote the portal all year.

Thank you for taking the time to promote the new member portal to members. Your encouragement for members to use the portal will be helpful in assisting with its adoption.

2021 Annual data submission schedule – DCT available January 22

CAAT’s Data Collection Tool (DCT) will open on January 22 for employers who use the annual data submission process. The data submission due date is March 15.

Starting January 22, you can log into the DCT tool anytime to review member data.

Attend the training that works for you

Training will take place on January 19, 20, and 21. We will be offering both full and refresher training on the DCT process this year for employers that offer both Plan designs. You can select the session that is best for you. For DBplus-only employers, we will be offering training on January 21.

If you provide your data on a schedule other than annual, the DCT will not apply to you.

Ontario legislation: Infectious Disease Emergency Leaves extended for non-union employees until July 3, 2021

The Ontario government has once again extended the end date for Infectious Disease Emergency Leaves (IDEL) until July 3, 2021. This impacts members who are employed in Ontario and are non-union employees.

If you have members that fall under the Ontario deemed IDEL leaves, please contact your Employer PA to discuss how to report these members to the Plan.

Inflation protection - now reflected on pensions in pay

Pension payments on January 1 reflected the inflation protection increase. Letters notifying retired members of the increase were mailed on January 6.

Letters will be mailed on January 29 to a small number of retired members that belong to employers that recently transferred assets into the Plan. Members at these employers will receive their first payment that reflects the increase on February 1 (retroactive to January 1).

Employer attestation – 2020 attestations will be sent January 18 - 22

Attestations will be sent to the college presidents or employer CEOs the week of January 18.

Completed attestations are due to be returned by March 31, 2021.

If you have any questions on the attestation, please contact Sandy Cook at scook@caatpension.ca.

New year, new opportunities for members to learn about their pension

The more members know about their pension, the more they value it. We are booking member webinars on a variety of topics: Plan overview, retirement planning, introduction to DBplus, and pension purchases.

To arrange a webinar for your employees, contact presentations@caatpension.ca with your preferred date so we can secure it for you.

Upcoming Events

Block your calendar for the upcoming education sessions:

• January 19-21 - Employer Education Sessions - DCT training
• January 28 - Portal Training - Employer Q&A and feedback
• February 4 - Employer Portal Training - Change of Employment information

Invitations for the webinars will be sent out approximately two weeks in advance.