If you have an active and deferred membership with SHEPP, all of your service and earnings will be combined to determine your SHEPP benefit and your eligibility to receive that benefit. Your new combined pension will be determined based on contributory earnings and credited service from both your prior deferred membership and your new active membership. Combining of memberships will happen automatically when SHEPP receives your new active enrolment and will occur no matter what length of time has lapsed between
the end of the deferred membership and the enrolment date of the new active membership.

EXAMPLE
Jennifer terminated SHEPP membership in 2018 and deferred her SHEPP pension. She is hired by SHA on August 1, 2024 and enrolled in SHEPP. Jennifer’s deferred membership will be joined with her active membership, combining her service and earnings to determine her SHEPP benefit and eligibility for that benefit.

What are excess contributions?

Excess contributions are any required contributions you have made that exceed 50% of the commuted value of your pension. If you had excess contributions when you deferred your original SHEPP benefit, these would have been refunded to you in cash. If you become an
active member of the Plan again and combine your memberships, excess contributions calculated for any subsequent termination, retirement or death will be offset by any excess contributions previously issued for the same membership period.

Effective July 1, 2021, the Saskatchewan Healthcare Employees’ Pension Plan (SHEPP) was amended to allow members to combine service and earnings from their deferred membership with their active membership for the purposes of determining their benefits payable under the Plan and to determine eligibility to receive that benefit. Previously, a member’s benefit under their deferred and active memberships were maintained separately.

Can I purchase the break between the two membership periods as prior service?

No, that period of time is not available for purchase because you were not employed with a SHEPP participating employer during this time

What are some considerations when merging memberships?

The merging of memberships will positively impact your retirement dates and pension benefit.

Impact on your retirement date

If you have not yet reached your unreduced retirement date (i.e. rule of 80), combining service from both deferred and active memberships could positively impact your retirement date.

EXAMPLE
Jane is 50 years old. With her prior active and deferred memberships, her unreduced retirement dates (rule of 80) were in 2038 and 2041 respectively. With Jane’s new combined membership, her unreduced retirement date is moved up to 2033.

Impact on your early retirement reduction

If you’re eligible for an early reduced pension (i.e. any time after age 55 with at least two years of service), the merging of memberships could improve the early retirement reduction.

EXAMPLE
John is eligible for an early reduced pension. With his prior active and deferred memberships, his early retirement reductions were 48%. With John’s new combined membership, his early retirement reduction drops to 20%.

For more information about applicable Retirement Dates under SHEPP, please refer to the Retirement Information Page.