Pension Life - 2023

Your 2023 COLA is 6.9 per cent

We are pleased to inform you that you received a 6.9 per cent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) effective January 1, 2023. COLAs help the value of your pension keep up with the rising cost of living. The adjustment amount is based on changes in the Canadian consumer price index between September 2021 and September 2022.

If you’ve been retired for less than a year, your COLA is pro-rated based on the number of months you’ve been retired.

Where does the money for COLAs come from?

When you were working, the contributions you and WorkSafeBC made to the pension plan went into two accounts: the basic account, which funds your lifetime pension, and the inflation adjustment account (IAA), which is used for funding COLAs. All contributions are invested, and the returns on these investments fund most of your COLA and lifetime pension.

COLAs are not guaranteed and are dependent on the amount of money available in the IAA. When you receive a COLA, it becomes a permanent part of your basic monthly lifetime pension. As your Pension Committee, we monitor the health of the IAA and, with the support of the plan’s actuary, assess the plan’s ability to pay COLAs each year.