Frequently asked questions

HOOPP is a DB plan, meaning your pension is based on a formula that takes into account your earnings and years of service, rather than your total contributions. This means that you can have peace of mind knowing that you will never outlive your pension. A DB plan like HOOPP provides a secure monthly income that begins in retirement and is paid for the rest of your life. When you retire, your pension will be worth more than you contributed.

Plus, since HOOPP’s team of investment professionals work to keep your pension secure until you need it, you don’t have to make investment decisions or stress about market fluctuations. You also have access to early retirement options, survivor benefits for your loved ones, inflation protection and more. Learn more about How Your Pension Works.

The amount you contribute to your pension is based on your earnings and the Plan’s contribution rates. The current contribution rates are 6.9% up to the year’s maximum pensionable earnings (YMPE) and 9.2% above the YMPE. Visit How Your Pension Works to learn more about contributions.

Yes. For every dollar that you contribute off your pay, your employer contributes $1.26. Visit How Your Pension Works to understand your contributions.

Yes, if you’re a part-time, contract or casual employee working for a HOOPP employer, you have the option to join the Plan any time. If you are interested in joining HOOPP, speak to your employer for more information.

The sooner you join, the better. With more years of service, you’ll have a greater monthly pension. Or, if you decide that right now isn’t the right time to join, we’ll be here when you’re ready to take that next step.

If you are working for multiple HOOPP employers, you can contribute at all of your employers and generally build a bigger pension. Learn more about Working for Multiple HOOPP Employers.

Use HOOPP’s Pension Estimator to get a personalized estimate of what your future pension could look like at key milestone dates. You can also see how your pension changes based on different factors, such as: 

• retiring early or later
• changing your future work schedule (e.g., from full time to part time or vice versa)
• any future salary increases

Plus, you can save and compare different retirement ages and scenarios to come back to later. In addition to using the Pension Estimator, you can see an estimate of your pension for key milestone dates on your annual statement.

Visit the Pension Estimator on HOOPP Connect today.

You can increase your overall pension at retirement when you buy back eligible service. There are two types of past service that you can buy back: service with a HOOPP employer, and prior service with another pension plan.

Learn more about the two options and find more information on Buying Back Service.

If you switch from working full-time to part-time at a HOOPP employer, you can continue contributing to the Plan to grow your pension. If you work less than full-time hours in your position, your contributions will be based on what you would have earned working full-time hours. Your contributions will then be adjusted according to the percentage of full-time hours you work.

We annualize your earnings to calculate your pension. That means we use the amount that you would have earned working full-time in your position when we determine your best five consecutive years of earnings.

Alternatively, you can choose to stop making contributions. Please see Employment Changes for more information.

Learn more with this example of Full-Time vs Part-Time Contributions.

In addition to the information you can find on hoopp.com and HOOPP Connect, we offer a range of informative webinars and in-person seminars to help you understand your pension and create a retirement plan that works for you and your loved ones. Learn more about HOOPP's Pension Seminars or Webinars and sign up today!

No, HOOPP does not offer health and dental benefits. For information on your non-pension benefits, contact your employer.

As a HOOPP member, you benefit from more than just a lifetime pension. To learn more, visit Benefits of being a HOOPP member.

In some instances, you can stop contributing to the Plan where you work part time. For example, you can stop if you switch from full time to part time at your employer. Or, if you are enrolled as a part-time employee, you can stop contributing at that employer if you get a second job at another HOOPP employer that is full time. In either case, you must make the decision to stop contributions as soon as your work situation changes.

Whenever you need to reset your HOOPP Connect password, start by going to the HOOPP Connect Sign In page.

Then, select Forgot your password? in order to receive the password reset link to your email address on file and follow the steps outlined in the email. If you don’t have your User ID available, select Forgot your user ID? and follow the prompts.

To ensure you’re able to easily reset your password online in the future, please be sure to add your personal email address to your HOOPP Connect account. If you haven’t added one already, simply follow these steps:

1. Go to Update My Personal Information on HOOPP Connect.
2. Scroll down and enter your email address.
3. Select Update.

To use the Pension Estimator, start by signing into your HOOPP Connect account. The quickest way is to click the green Estimate your pension button near the top of the home page, under My Pension (where your future annual pension amount is projected).

If you are currently contributing to HOOPP, both the Pension Estimator and annual statement assume you continue to earn service in the Plan up to your retirement date. However, the estimates are different because they use different assumptions to calculate your pension.

• Annual statement: On your annual statement, we use your average annualized earnings as of December 31 of the previous year to estimate your pension at key retirement dates.
• HOOPP Connect Pension Estimator: This tool gives you a better idea of what your pension could be because:
  • It takes your earnings forward to estimate your average annualized earnings at your retirement date.
  • It assumes the year’s maximum pensionable earnings will continue to increase until your retirement date.

It is important to note that HOOPP Connect is for members only; you should not share your password with anyone. It is contrary to the HOOPP Connect Terms of Use for anyone else to access a member’s account, including a spouse, family member or power of attorney.

First, sign into your HOOPP Connect account. Then, to update your information, scroll down to Tools, select Update my Personal Information and then select the tab that applies (e.g., contact information or spousal information).

The fastest way to access your documents is to select My Mailbox in the navigation bar at the top of the home page. There, you can find all your important HOOPP documents, including your:

• annual statements
• tax slips (for example, if you're retired)
• letters and other HOOPP documents
• member newsletters

If you’re looking for a secure way to submit a document to HOOPP, you can use the Secure Messages feature on HOOPP Connect.

After signing into your account, follow these steps:

1. Select Secure Messages from the navigation menu at the top of the page.
2. Create a New Message.
3. Choose an option under the Topic drop-down menu.
4. Include a Subject.
5. Add any additional information in the text box.
6. Include your documents in the Attachment box by selecting the files from your computer.

Once you've completed all the steps on screen, select Send to submit your documents.

Yes. As long as you are a member of the Plan, you will have access to HOOPP Connect. If you leave your HOOPP employers and take your pension out of the Plan, you will no longer have access to HOOPP Connect. If you rejoin the Plan later on, your access will be restored.

To see your pension payment details on HOOPP Connect, start by signing into your account. Near the top of the home page, your after-tax pension payment for the current month will be displayed under My Pension.

You can view your pension payment details on HOOPP Connect or on your annual statement. If you want more information (e.g., tax deductions), you can click the green Details button underneath your payment amount. There, under the Personal information tab, you can select Payment history to view details related to specific payment dates.

You can contact our Member Services team for support at 416-646-6445 or toll-free at 1-877-43HOOPP (46677), Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Eastern Time. We're here to help.

The projected pension on your HOOPP annual statement is an estimate to give you an idea of what you could expect based on your current situation. It is not the final amount you will receive when you retire. The estimate is based on your earnings and service in the Plan at the time the statement is generated, and assumes you keep earning service until you retire. However, your actual pension amount could change depending on factors like future salary increases.

To answer this question, it's important to know the difference between the two types of service:

1. Contributory service is the length of time you have contributed to HOOPP and is used to calculate your pension. It includes any past service you buy or transferred into HOOPP, or periods where you received service without making contributions.
2. Eligibility service is the length of time you have been a member of HOOPP and, if you decide to retire early, it is used to determine the reduction (if any) that will apply to your pension. It includes any buybacks, transfers or free accrual, and excludes certain periods when you did not make contributions to the Plan.

So, your contributory service may be different from your eligibility service if you worked part-time hours at some point in your career, or if you took a leave where you didn’t contribute to your pension.

You can visit HOOPP Connect to view your total contributory and eligibility service as of January 1 of the current year. In HOOPP Connect, go to the Tools section and select My Pension Profile. From there, select the Plan information tab to learn more about your pension.

The reason the earnings on your annual statement and T4 may be different is because the earnings listed on your statement are based on pensionable earnings, which are used to calculate your pension. However, these are not necessarily the same as your employment earnings, as not all earnings are pensionable.

On the other hand, your T4 shows your total taxable employment income for the year for that employer, which includes pensionable earnings such as your regular earnings along with other types of income that are not pensionable.

No, the pension amounts shown on your HOOPP annual statement are not net of taxes. The figures presented are gross amounts, meaning they do not account for any deductions. The actual pension you receive during retirement will be subject to income tax.

If you're retired, you will see a breakdown of your deductions on your annual statement.

You have two main options when leaving your HOOPP employer: stay a HOOPP member or take your pension out of the Plan.

To learn more about your options, visit Leaving your HOOPP employer.

If you stop working for a HOOPP employer, you can stay a member of the Plan (known as deferring your pension). As a deferred member, your pension can grow with any approved cost of living adjustments both before and after retirement.

Here are some of the other reasons to consider keeping your pension with HOOPP:

• If you stay in healthcare and move to another HOOPP employer, you can continue to contribute to the Plan to build your pension.
• Your pension payments can grow as the cost of living goes up.
• Your pension offers survivor benefits to provide additional security for you and your family.
• You can start your deferred pension as early as age 55.
• You will never outlive your pension.

If you leave your job at your HOOPP employer, they will let us know. HOOPP will automatically send you the personalized details about your pension benefits and the options available to you.

Depending on your age, these options include:

• staying a HOOPP member, also known as deferring your pension.
• taking your pension out of HOOPP, either by transferring it to your new employer’s pension plan or transferring it to a locked-in retirement savings account.

Make sure your personal email address on record is up to date so you can be notified immediately when your options are available.

If you are age 55 or older and are interested in starting your pension, please let your employer know.

Visit Leaving your HOOPP employer for more information on your options and what to consider when making your decision.

Your employer will let us know that you’ve rejoined HOOPP as an active member. You will receive an enrolment package that explains the next steps. You may be able to combine the service that you earned during your membership at your previous HOOPP employer with the service that you earn at your new job. This means that your pension would be based on your service and earnings from both periods, which could result in a higher pension benefit.

With HOOPP, the earliest you can start receiving your pension is age 55. If you want to learn more about planning for retirement and how different retirement ages affect your pension, visit Planning for Retirement.

Initiating your retirement is as simple as letting your employer know that you’re ready. Your employer will notify us on your behalf, we’ll take care of the rest! Please make sure to provide your employer with sufficient notice to ensure there is enough time to process your retirement.

Once you’ve told your HOOPP employer you’re ready to retire, you can make your elections online simply and conveniently using the online retirement feature on HOOPP Connect.

Before you can start receiving your pension, you must end your employment at all of your HOOPP employers where you are enrolled and contributing to the Plan.

If you deferred your pension after leaving your HOOPP employer, it is your responsibility to contact HOOPP to notify us of the date you want to start receiving your pension.

If you want or need to keep working, every additional year that you participate in HOOPP will increase your pension. If you choose to retire after age 65, the portion of your pension that you built before age 65 will increase by 0.5% each month, until you decide to retire. The longer you participate in the Plan, the larger your pension will be.

For more information on your options, visit When Can I Retire.

Your monthly pension payments will start on the first day of the month following your chosen retirement date.

To begin this process, provide your employer with sufficient notice that you’d like to retire. They will notify HOOPP so we can start your retirement process and a dedicated Member Services Specialist will support you along the way. You will then receive your retirement options that you will choose from and can review your personal details.

If you deferred your pension after leaving your HOOPP employer, it is your responsibility to contact HOOPP to notify us of the date you want to start receiving your pension.

If you pass away in retirement, your qualifying spouse at the time of your retirement is entitled to receive 66 2/3% of your monthly pension, not including the bridge benefit, for the rest of their life. You also have the option to increase this benefit to 80% or 100% of your monthly pension, which may provide additional protection to your spouse depending on your personal circumstances.

There are a few considerations to keep in mind when thinking about the right spousal benefit option for your personal situation. Take some time to read about Choosing a Spousal Option and use the Survivor Benefits Guidance Tool on HOOPP Connect for personalized guidance on the option that may be most suitable for you. With this information, you will be more prepared to make an informed election when you retire, and this can also support your estate planning.

You can easily update your contact information, banking information and tax withholdings online on HOOPP Connect, or you may contact our  Member Services team.

If you have a Canadian bank account, we can pay your pension by direct deposit. If you don’t have a Canadian bank account, you may still have the option to have your monthly pension payment sent electronically to your local bank account, depending on where you live. Call our Member Services team for more information.

Survivor benefits are a key feature of the Plan and can help provide financial support for your loved ones when you pass away. Learn more about planning for loved ones.

It's important to know that starting or ending a spousal relationship may impact your pension and the survivor benefits that may be payable when you pass away. If your relationship status changes after you’ve retired, you should contact our Member Services team as soon as possible to discuss your situation. Learn more about relationship changes and your pension and what you need to consider when planning for loved ones.

By law, HOOPP must deduct taxes from your pension payment, similar to when you were working. Those deductions are based on federal and provincial income tax rules and the personal tax information you reported to us when you retired. HOOPP can vary the amount of tax deducted from your HOOPP pension, if you:

• have additional tax credits, such as a spousal credit, age credit or tuition credit
• request that more tax be deducted

To make changes, complete Canada Revenue's Personal Tax Credit forms and submit them to HOOPP.

Learn more about Taxes and Your HOOPP Pension.

Tax slips are mailed out by February 28 every year to allow you the necessary time to file your taxes. We will provide tax slips for members who received pension payments in the previous calendar year. The type of tax slip you receive (e.g., T4A, T4A-RCA, RL-2, RL-1, NR4) will depend on the amount of pension you receive as well as the residential address we have on file.

For your convenience, you can also find copies of your tax slips in the My Mailbox section of HOOPP Connect.

Retirement opens up a whole new world of possibilities, including going back to work.

If you go to work for a non-HOOPP employer, your pension will not be affected. If you return to work at a HOOPP employer, keep in mind that you can’t receive pension payments and contribute to HOOPP at the same time.

You will have two options:

• continue receiving your HOOPP pension without re-enrolling in the Plan, or
• temporarily stop your pension payments, re-enrol in the Plan and resume making contributions to build your HOOPP pension

Learn more about returning to work after retirement.

HOOPP pensions are normally paid on the first business day of each month. Where the first falls on a weekend or holiday, we will make the deposit on the last business day of the previous month (January is an exception. For tax reasons, January pension deposits cannot be made in December).

The pension payment schedule can be found on the Your Life in Retirement page.

Once you start receiving your pension, you will not be able to change the spousal pension option that you selected at retirement. In addition, once you retire with a spousal pension option, it can only be waived in limited situations.

If you have a qualifying spouse on the date you retire, they will, by law, receive spousal benefits in priority to any beneficiaries you have designated, such as your children. If you’d prefer someone other than your qualifying spouse to receive any survivor benefits from HOOPP after you pass away, a spousal waiver is required.

Waiving this entitlement means your spouse will not receive a monthly spousal benefit if you pass away before them in retirement. Instead, HOOPP will pay any survivor benefits to your beneficiaries when you pass away, or if you do not have any beneficiaries on file, your estate. This survivor benefit provides a 15-year guarantee instead of a lifetime survivor pension. This means that, if you pass away before receiving 15 years of payments, your beneficiaries will be eligible to receive a survivor benefit which can be paid as a lump sum or a monthly payment. If you pass away after receiving your pension for 15 years (i.e. 180 monthly payments), there are generally no survivor benefits available. Learn more about waiving spousal benefits.

If you pass away before your pension begins, your qualifying spouse is entitled to receive a survivor benefit. Your spouse can choose to receive these benefits as a monthly lifetime pension or a lump-sum payment representing the commuted value of your pension.

Learn more about HOOPP's survivor benefits if you pass away before retirement.

If you pass away before retirement without a qualifying spouse, or if spousal benefits have been waived, the person(s), or organization you name as your designated beneficiary will receive a lump-sum cash amount representing the value of your pension benefit. This amount is taxable income in the year in which it is paid and is subject to mandatory withholding tax. 

If you do not have a designated beneficiary, a lump-sum cash amount representing the value of your pension benefit will be paid to your estate. This amount is taxable. 

If you do not have a qualifying spouse at retirement and you pass away before receiving 15 years of payments, your beneficiaries will be eligible to receive a survivor benefit.

Your beneficiaries can choose to receive this benefit as:

• A continuation of your monthly pension payments, not including any bridge benefit, for the balance of the 15-year period or, 
• A lump-sum payment representing the value of these remaining payments in the 15-year period. This amount is paid in cash and is taxable in the year it is received.

If there are no HOOPP beneficiaries when you pass, any survivor benefit will go to your estate.

If you pass away after receiving your pension for 15 years (i.e. 180 monthly payments), there are generally no survivor benefits available.

Learn more about HOOPP's survivor benefits if you pass away after retirement.

Your beneficiary can be one or more individuals, such as your parents or children, or an organization, such as a charity or trust. You can also designate your estate as your beneficiary to have your survivor benefits administered according to a will. 

You may want to designate a beneficiary to receive survivor benefits if:

• you don’t have a spouse or,
• your spouse passes away before you or,
• your spouse waived their right to survivor benefits

Learn more about naming beneficiaries.

If your will was made more recently than your last beneficiary designation with HOOPP, it can impact your designations. The designation that was made more recently is the one that will apply, so be sure to ask a lawyer how it could affect your HOOPP survivor benefits when preparing or updating your will. 

Learn more about how your will can impact your HOOPP beneficiary designations.

If you enter a new marriage or common-law relationship after you’ve retired, you may be eligible to apply for a post-retirement spousal pension. If your application to provide survivor benefits to your new spouse is approved, your pension will be reduced to reflect the cost of providing this benefit.

Learn more about relationship changes and your pension, after you’ve retired.

You can increase your pension by buying back periods of eligible past service when:

• you worked for a HOOPP employer but were not enrolled or contributing, or if you didn’t belong to or contribute to HOOPP, or
• you had prior service with another pension plan.

The cost of buying back service depends on a variety of factors, such as your age, earnings, years of service, and the service that you are purchasing in HOOPP. 

You can buy back service at any time before you retire or terminate your membership in the Plan. The cost of buying back service depends on a number of factors, such as your age, earnings and years in the Plan – so, in general, the sooner you buy back service, the better.

You can buy back all, or a portion, of your service. If you decide to buy back a portion of your service, HOOPP will apply your purchase to your most recent period of eligible service. You have the option to buy back any remaining service later; however, the cost will generally go up as your age, earnings and years of service increase.

Buying back service with cash usually results in a past service pension adjustment (PSPA). This will reduce your available RRSP contribution room by the amount of the PSPA.

HOOPP is required to calculate and report PSPAs to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) for approval to ensure that the tax limits on contributions for retirement savings are not exceeded.

If you don’t have enough RRSP contribution room, you may have to withdraw funds from your RRSP to buy the eligible past service. You may want to consider using registered funds from an RRSP or a LIRA to pay for past service to reduce the PSPA or eliminate it entirely. HOOPP cannot finalize your purchase until the PSPA has been certified by the CRA.

Yes, there are different ways you can pay for eligible past service. These include cash or by transferring funds from a registered account, like your RRSP or LIRA, or another registered Canadian pension plan. However, to do so, the funds must come from an account that is under your name. When requesting to buy back service, HOOPP will provide you with additional information on your payment options.

After receiving your quote, the decision to proceed or not is yours to make. In order to complete the purchase, the funds and completed forms must be received on or before the quote expiry date indicated in your package. Keep in mind that you can choose to buy back all, or a portion, of your service.

When approved, HOOPP provides COLA for retired and deferred members, as well as pensions that are paid to surviving spouses and beneficiaries. Active members do not receive COLA.

HOOPP’s Board of Trustees has approved a full cost of living adjustment (COLA) for 2024 of 1.83% to help our retired and deferred members’ pensions keep up with inflation. The increase is effective April 1, 2025, and is the maximum allowable for the year based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

HOOPP’s COLA is based on a percentage of the previous year's December-over-December increase to the Canada Consumer Price Index (CPI), up to a maximum CPI increase of 10%. The CPI is a standard economic measure of inflation. Canadian CPI rates are published by Statistics Canada to show the change in the price of a basket of consumer goods and services typically purchased by Canadian households.

The 2024 COLA is the maximum allowable for the year based on the CPI.

Whether you choose to contribute during your parental leave or not depends on your personal situation.

You can continue to build your HOOPP pension by making contributions during your leave of absence (as though you were working) or pay the lump sum of your contributions no later than six months after you’ve returned to work.

By contributing to HOOPP for an eligible leave, like a parental leave, your pension will continue to grow while you are temporarily away from work. You can speak with your employer to make arrangements.

If your employer places you on a health leave because you are unable to work due to a physical illness or injury, or mental illness, HOOPP offers two types of disability benefits that can help you continue to build your pension and prepare for your future while you are off work. These benefits are a valuable feature of your pension offered at no cost to you or your employer.

Learn more about HOOPP’s disability benefits.

Free accrual of service is a disability benefit that allows you to continue accumulating service in the Plan while you are on a health leave without making contributions. If you apply and are approved for free accrual, you and your employer pause contributions, but your pension continues to grow as though you are still working, at no cost to you or your employer.

If you are totally and permanently disabled, a HOOPP disability pension allows you to retire right away (even if you are under age 55) and start a disability pension without early retirement adjustments.

If you are assessed by HOOPP as totally and permanently disabled, you will have two options: receiving free accrual or starting a disability pension. Members often elect to receive free accrual because it allows them to continue growing their pension. However, a disability pension offers immediate access to your pension income.

The type of disability benefits and length of time you are eligible for will depend on your level of disability, which is assessed by HOOPP based on the information you provide. If you are approved for free accrual, your free accrual typically begins as soon as your qualifying period is over. Your continued eligibility depends on your level of disability and other factors.

If you are assessed by HOOPP as partially disabled, totally disabled or totally and permanently disabled, your free accrual can begin after your 15-week qualifying period and last as long as you continue to qualify, until one of the following occurs:

• You return to work and start contributing again
• You reach 35 years of service or age 65
• You end your membership in HOOPP or decide to start an early retirement pension

Please note: If you are assessed as partially disabled, your free accrual can last until you reach four years from the date your health leave started.

The first 15 weeks of a health leave is called the qualifying period. During this time, you and your employer continue to make contributions to your pension based on any pensionable earnings that you receive.

Free accrual can start after the qualifying period has ended.

The qualifying period applies only to free accrual. If you are totally and permanently disabled and want to start a disability pension, there is no qualifying period.

Your employer lets us know when you start a health leave. When your qualifying period ends, we will send you an Application for Disability Benefits, along with more information about the benefits.

You’ll need to complete the short application and submit it to HOOPP, along with some required medical information. There are multiple options to choose from for medical evidence, and these are all clearly explained in the application. HOOPP is not responsible for any costs related to obtaining forms or documentation from your medical professional.

We’ll review your application and reach out with next steps. If any additional information is required, we’ll let you know at this time.

Please note, if you are not on a health leave, have not made any contributions to HOOPP or if you have already retired or deferred your pension, you are not eligible to receive disability benefits from HOOPP.

The benefits you may be eligible to receive will depend on your level of disability, as assessed by HOOPP. We use three different definitions of disability:

• Partially disabled:

You have a physical or mental impairment that HOOPP has determined prevents you from performing the duties related to current job.

• Totally disabled:

You have a physical or mental impairment that HOOPP has determined prevents you from engaging in any employment for which you are reasonably suited by virtue of your education, training or experience.


• Totally and permanently disabled:

You have a physical or mental impairment that HOOPP has determined prevents you from engaging in any employment for which you are reasonably suited by virtue of your education, training or experience and that can reasonably be expected to continue for the remainder of your lifetime.