What's New Archive

Cancellation of the 2017 Pension Statement

Please note that the annual Pension Statement that would have been available in spring 2017, will not be issued in either print or electronic format. Due to issues with the Phoenix pay system, all public service pension statements with or without insurance benefit information will not be issued. Until a statement can be issued, please Contact Employer Support Services (pension information) or your departmental compensation office (insurance benefit information). More information can also be found in the News Release provided by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat. [2018-01-14]

Temporary interruption of pension services

As a result of planned maintenance to the Government of Canada pension system (GCPENS) there will be periods between October 6-11, 2017 where GCPENS including Compensation Web Applications (CWA) (Pay and Pension) and Phoenix and the Data Capture Tool (DCT) will not be available to users.

CWA (Pay and Pension) and Phoenix will not be available to users: from 8:00 p.m. Friday, October 6 to 11:59 p.m. Saturday, October 7 Eastern Daylight Time (EDT).

Active member pension applications within CWA will not be available to users: from 8:00 p.m. Friday, October 6, to 11:59 p.m. Wednesday October 11 EDT.

The Government of Canada Pension Centre (Pension Centre) will operate during regular business hours on October 10-11; however, the pension solution will be unavailable to access employees’ information. The Pension Centre will therefore be limited when responding to client inquiries and processing service requests on these dates.

Essential pension services, such as Supplementary Death Benefit payments, will continue to be provided during the interruption of services.

Revised form PWGSC-TPSGC 2386

Form PWGSC-TPSGC 2386 was amended and a new Special advice to Crown Corporations and others was created (SACCO 2017-001). The purpose of this new SACCO is to provide additional instructions on how to complete this form for Crowns Corporations and territorial governments, not using the new Phoenix pay system. [2017-10-11]

The 2015 Pension and Insurance Benefits Statement

The electronic version of the 2015 Your Pension and Insurance Benefits Statement is available online.

The delivery of the printed 2015 Pension and Insurance Benefits Statement to organizations for distribution to employees is now complete. Employees should receive their Statement soon. [2016-10-18]

Temporary interruption of pension services January 3, 2017

On January 3, 2017, Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) will complete the final release supporting the transfer of administration for the Canadian Armed Forces pension plans. As a result, there will be periods between December 18, 2016 and January 2, 2017 where the Government of Canada pension solution including Compensation Web Applications (CWA) and the Data Capture Tool (DCT) will not be available to users.

Active member pension applications within CWA and the DCT will not be available: Sunday, December 18 to Thursday, December 22, 2016.

The Personalized pension tools within Active member pension applications will not be available: Friday, December 23 to Monday, January 2, 2017.

The DCT will have limited functionality: Friday, December 23 to Monday, January 2, 2017.

The Government of Canada Pension Centre (Pension Centre) will operate during regular business hours from December 19 to 30 however; employees' electronic files will not be accessible. The Pension Centre will therefore be limited when responding to client inquiries and processing service requests during this period.

Essential pension services, such as Supplementary Death Benefit payments, will continue to be provided during the interruption of services.

Employees planning to retire in the near future should submit their request and documentation to the Pension Centre as early as possible to avoid potential delays.

Temporary interruption of pension services October 21, 2017

Please note that the Data Capture Tool (DCT) and Personalized Pension Tools within Compensation Web Applications (CWA) will not be available on the following dates due to system maintenance work to be performed. To minimize inconvenience for employees the temporary interruption will take place over the weekend:

Friday, October 21, 8:00 p.m. to Sunday, October 23, 6:00 p.m. EDT

Planned Pension System Interruptions May 7th, 2017

Due to planned pension system maintenance, there will be several small windows of time during the months of May and June where the Data Capture tool (DCT) and personalized pension tools within the Compensation Web Applications (CWA) will not be accessible. Most of these temporary interruptions will occur over the weekend or at night in order to minimize inconvenience for employees. Those interruptions will be occurring on:

Saturday, May 7th, 7:00 am to 11:59 pm EDT
Saturday, May 14th, 7:00 am to Sunday, May 15th, 11:59 am EDT
Friday, May 20th, 11:59 pm to Monday, May 23rd, 11:59 pm EDT
Friday, June 17th, 8:00 pm to Sunday, June 26th, 11:59 pm EDT

During the interruption occurring the week of June 20th to June 24th the Government of Canada Pension Centre will continue to operate as per its regular business hours. However, Pension Experts will only be available to answer general inquiries. Essential services, such as payment of Supplementary Death Benefit, will continue to be provided through the service interruption period.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your understanding.

Planned Pension System interruptions April 9th, 2017

During the final phase of the implementation of Phoenix, the Government of Canada new pay system, there will be several small windows of time during the month of April where the Data Capture tool (DCT) and personalized pension tools within the Compensation Web Applications (CWA) will not be accessible to all departments. Most of these temporary interruptions will occur over the weekend or at night in order to minimize inconvenience for employees.

The periods where pension tools may not be available are:

Saturday April 9th, 7:00 am to 11:59 am EDT; and
Friday, April 15th, 11:59 pm to Sunday, April 17th, 11:59 pm EDT

The periods where pension tools will not be available are:

Friday, April 15th, 8:00 pm to 11:59 pm EDT
Wednesday, April 20th, 8:00 pm to 11:59 pm EDT
Thursday, April 21st, 11:59 pm to Monday, April 25th, 11:59 pm EDT

Specifically on Friday, April 22nd and Monday, April 25th, the Government of Canada Pension Centre will continue to operate as per its regular business hours. However, pension experts will only be available to answer general enquiries. Staff will not have access to member’s electronic files, limiting the Pension Centre’s ability to fully respond to client inquiries or process service requests.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your understanding. [2016-04-06]

Pension System Interruptions

All online pension tools, including the Compensation Web Applications (CWA) and the Data Capture Tool (DCT) will be unavailable to users on the following dates and times in order to perform planned pension system maintenance:

Friday, February 19, 8 p.m. EST to midnight
Thursday, February 25, midnight to Monday, February 29, 11:59 p.m. EST

Throughout these periods, the Government of Canada Pension Centre (Pension Centre) will continue to operate as per its regular business hours. However, please note that on the 26^th and 29^th of February, Pension Experts will only be available to answer general enquiries since staff will not be able to respond to those questions requiring access to an employee’s electronic file. As such, this will limit the Pension Centre’s ability to fully respond to client inquiries or process service requests.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your understanding. [2016-02-15]

The 2014 Pension and Insurance Benefits Statement

Note that the 2014 Pension and Insurance Benefits Statements will be sent progressively to organizations, starting April 10, 2015 and during the next 6 to 8 weeks for distribution to employees.

The statement has been redesigned to provide personalized pension information and clear explanations about the member's benefits and entitlements, in an easy-to-read format. [2015-04-16]

Personalized Pension Tools functionality limitations

The Personalized Pension Tools are online self-service tools available to public service pension plan members within the Compensation Web Applications' (CWA) secure Active Member Pension Applications portal. If your organization has access to these tools please note that due to a recent Microsoft update to laptops and computers across departments, in order to resolve critical security vulnerability, employees may experience difficulties accessing some of the Personalized Pension Tools, including the Pension Benefits Statement, the Pension Benefits Calculator, the Service Buyback Estimator, and updates to your contact information.

While your organization implements changes to correct this functionality issue you may use Basic Pension Calculator to obtain pension estimates. This tool does not require a password and can be accessed from any computer with internet access. It provides employees with an estimate of their monthly and yearly pension benefits based on the data they enter. For all technical matters, please have your employees contact their organisational Help Desk.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. [2015-02-18]

Your 2014 Pension Statement redesign

Due to the continued functionality limitations of the Personalized Pension Tools, within the Compensation Web Application's (CWA) secure Active Member Pension Applications portal, Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) will be proceeding with the full printing of the 2014 Pension Statement, to ensure wherever possible, public service pension plan members receive one. This annual statement, usually distributed in the fall of each year, has been undergoing changes to offer employees a newly redesigned printed statement. The new statement provides personalized pension information that includes clear explanations about your benefits and entitlements, in an easy-to-read format.

Starting at the end of February, they will be provided to your organisation for distribution to all employees. When your organisation successfully implements the required changes to fix this functionality issue, you will be able to access the electronic version of your statement in the old format effective mid-March under the Personalized Pension Tools section.

We apologize for any inconvenience this delay may cause. [2015-02-18]

Disclaimer for pension plan changes

Changes were made to the public service pension plan effective January 1, 2013. For more information, visit the Information concerning changes to the public sector pension plans page of the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat Web site or Contact Employer Support Services. We appreciate your patience while we gradually update all of our procedures, publications and Web sites to reflect these changes. [2013-04-03]

Name change for the Public Service Pension Centre

The Public Service Pension Centre has been renamed the Government of Canada Pension Centre (Pension Centre). This name change represents our future expanded service delivery. We appreciate your patience as we gradually change all of our publications and Websites to reflect our new name. [2013-01-29]

New Basic Pension Calculator

Back by popular demand, we are pleased to announce that the Basic Pension Calculator is now available for all active members of the public service pension plan! This tool does not require a password and can be accessed from any computer. It provides employees with an estimate of their monthly and yearly pension benefits based on the data they enter.

As a compensation advisor, we encourage you to explore the features of this online self-service tool at Your Public Service Pension and Benefits Web Portal and recommend it to your employees! [2012-10-15]

Leave without pay

Inputs should be done in hours for closed short periods of Leave without pay (LWOP) only (six days or less). Due to system functionality, if long periods of LWOP are reported in hours, it will cause integrity problems in the member's account. In addition, for long periods of LWOP (more than six days), do not report the number of hours/days; the pension solution will automatically calculate the compensatory days based on the FROM and TO date of the LWOP period. [2012-03-16]

New billing process

There is a new billing process for the Employers who remit contributions on a monthly basis. Once the new pension solution is implemented, employers will be invoiced by the Government of Canada Pension Centre (Pension Centre) based on the information provided to the Pension Centre via the new Data Capture Tool (DCT).

New Data Capture Tool / Accounting user form

Employers must provide the Pension Centre with the Employer Representative User ID Request form PWGSC-TPSGC 591 (page available on Government of Canada network only) (Public Works and Government Services Canada - Travaux publics et Services gouvernementaux Canada) for their employees who require access to the Data Capture Tool (DCT) and/or the Accounting functionality.

Data Capture Tool Tips