Current Pension Services Delivery Model

The administrative services regarding the Public Service Superannuation Act (PSSA) are provided by various organizations such as federal public service departments, separate employers, crown corporations and agencies. Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) is responsible for providing services to the annuitant population, which includes issuance of payments, account maintenance, administration of death benefits, advice, and assistance. Support services, including advisory services, application and program support, training and maintenance of pension manuals, are provided to compensation advisors in departments and agencies. In addition, PWGSC develops and maintains compensation systems. Departments and agencies are responsible for pension related advice and assistance to employees as well as determining pension entitlements and commencement of deductions.

For a number of years now, the pay and benefits community have been feeling the strain of increased demands that have been exacerbated by the complexity of pension administration. The current pension services systems are on the verge of being overwhelmed by the demands being placed upon them. The many fragmented and disjointed pension systems are based on 30-year-old solutions resulting in poor service to stakeholders. Further, the demands on the pension systems and the compensation advisors will only increase as the baby boomer generation plans for retirement. Included in those planning to retire are a critical mass of compensation advisors who have been the glue holding the system together.

From the plan member's point of view, there is a lack of flexibility in the types and modes of pension services that can be offered under the current model. Plan members expect the level and quality of service from Compensation Advisors to mirror the advances that have taken place over the past decade in the private sector financial and consumer services industries. Currently, the model is limited for any plan member to have self-service for common enquiries or transactions, and does not allow for access to timely and consistent information by customer service representatives. As is the case when making any major life decision, plan members need high quality and accurate pension advice to plan for retirement. While some cases have been successfully argued before the Courts, most cases have been settled without going to Court as the Government recognizes its liability. These liabilities have been significant and are expected to occur with greater frequency if the status quo is maintained in the pension services delivery model.

From the plan administrator's point of view, the current system is an expensive system to operate and the legacy systems are difficult to upgrade. The system requires manual interventions and reliance on hard copy files by compensation advisors to ensure the accuracy of information provided to plan members. As such, it increases the possibility of errors and service standards are not often met.

1.2 Description of the Current Pension Services Delivery Model

The current pension services delivery model has been in place, for the most part, for the past 30 years. While PWGSC (under Section 13 of the PWGSC Act) has the responsibility for the administration of pension services many pension services have been delegated to the compensation community in departments, agencies, crown corporations as well as separate employers.

Today, pension plan members receive pension services from their Compensation Advisor(s) who, for the most part, are generalists delivering the complete package of compensation services including counseling employees in pension-related decisions. Compensation Advisors receive pension-related training from PWGSC staff. Pension experts in PWGSC are available to provide assistance to Compensation Advisors for general type inquiries and PWGSC pension experts process all pension caseworks.

Current Pension Services Delivery Model
Plan Member Enquiry		Compensation Advisor		PWGSC Pension Experts

In summary, in the current pension services delivery model, an employee will seek answers to questions and advice from their compensation advisor who will provide these where possible and who will seek assistance from pension experts in PWGSC, when necessary. Once an employee has acted upon the information or advice, the actual casework will be done by pension experts in PWGSC.