Not so much the dead in fact as those who survive them. And above all, their money.
The other day, I tried as best I could to explain to you how the pension for the surviving spouse of the Quebec Pension Plan (QPP) works. Let’s summarize without fanfare to make it easier to understand the rest, because there is a follow-up, it’s you who asked for it:
- Widows UNDER 65: benefit made up of a first fixed portion and a second equivalent to 37.5% of the retirement pension to which the deceased would have been entitled. The amount can exceed $1000 per month.
- Widows aged 65 and over: 60% of the retirement pension to which the deceased would have been entitled OR a pension (known as “combined”) made up of the survivor’s retirement pension and 37.5% of the retirement benefit to to which the deceased would have been entitled.
Important point: the combined benefit cannot exceed the maximum retirement pension, i.e. $1,364.60 per month, in 2024. This ceiling increases if you delay your own retirement pension. At age 72, the monthly maximum reaches $2,166.98. This was the subject of the column which you can consult below.
1.8 billion per year to widows and widowers
This text raised a few questions for me which I am going to answer, and I have saved the most interesting one for last, you know me. But before coming back to that, I wanted to give you some data to put into your mouth, so you can get an idea of this program.
Almost $1.8 billion was paid by the QPP in benefits to surviving spouses in 2022, in total. Beneficiaries received $385 on average per month that same year, an amount which rises to $405 among those who started receiving it in 2022. This is the most recent data.
While digging into the QPP statistics, I noticed an interesting phenomenon that has nothing to do with finances. This is the significant reduction in premature deaths among men in the space of 20 years.
In 2002, 5,402 new beneficiaries under the age of 65 were able to claim the surviving spouse’s pension (the first phase I was talking about). In 2022, this number had dropped to 3,334. This decline, gradual over the years, occurred while the population continued to grow.
Therefore, fewer men die in the prime of life. Would they take more care of themselves, would they be less reckless, and therefore less virile? No need to complain, just kidding. Well, a little. Well done boys.
Another hypothesis that could be explored, without excluding the previous one: the increase in the number of single people whose death does not trigger a pension for the surviving spouse. It is also plausible, other data shows the increase in the number of people living alone.
On the other hand, when we look at men under 65 who receive the benefit in question, the figures are also decreasing. The number of new beneficiaries under 65 was 1,735 in 2002. Two decades later, there were 1,331.
There, I hear you: “Germain, are you filling with cloths that don’t need to be waxed?”
Don’t you find that interesting?
Booster civil servants’ pension
Okay, let’s move on to the questions. The easy one, first, received three times rather than once: yes, it is indexed, the pension to the surviving spouse. Fully.
Now, those of Suzanne and René, which overlap. In both cases, their question arises from a linking of their government pension fund, the RREGOP, with the RRQ retirement benefit.
When they retire early, RREGOP beneficiaries receive higher income from the employer plan until age 65. Having reached this age, the retiree sees his RREGOP pension decrease, but this reduction is offset by the triggering of the RRQ benefit. This mechanism makes it possible to level out income over time; it applies to most public plans and several employer pension funds.
We must now dispel a belief still widespread among civil servants: coordination between the RREGOP and the RRQ does not force anyone to take the latter at 65. If you have enough savings to postpone the QPP a little for a larger future pension, nothing is stopping you from doing so. Moreover, I remind you that the RREGOP benefit is only partially indexed to inflation, while that of the RRQ is 100%.
Therefore, a civil servant who is already collecting the survivor’s pension also finds himself with an additional choice to improve his QPP income, throughout his life.
Once he reaches age 65, he only has to delay his QPP retirement benefit. He will continue to receive the surviving spouse’s pension (indexed), reduced to 60% of what his late spouse would have received. As long as he waits, up to a maximum of 72 years, his pension promise will only increase.
A federal allowance, yes!
Last question, the most interesting, that no one asked me in fact, I’ll give it to you as a gift: what about the federal government? Is there any form of compensation for Canadians affected by the disappearance of their spouse? Yes. All the mourners? No, it’s rather restricted. Is it paid automatically? No. We have to ask for it.
That makes it interesting.
This is called the “Survivor’s Allowance”, it is offered to people aged 60 to 64 on low income who have lost their significant other (common-law partner or married) in the past, without having gotten back together since. . Most of those affected, you can imagine, are likely to miss out on an amount that can reach over $1,600 per month.
Do you know someone who might qualify? It looks like a single person who earns a little less than $30,000 and calls himself a widow.
Give them the information, quickly. For more details, go to the federal government website.
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