The Government of Saskatchewan has amended the funding rules for most public sector DB plans.
The new rules remove the requirement to fund a plan’s solvency deficiency while decreasing the period of time by which a going concern unfunded liability is required to be amortized from 15 to 10 years.
“We’ve reworked the funding rules to find a fair and balanced approach to this complex situation,” says Gordon Wyant, the minister responsible for the Financial and Consumer Affairs Authority.
“These rules will result in less erratic contribution levels, while protecting accrued pensions.”
There are 19 public sector DB plans with 110,000 plan members registered under The Pension Benefits Act, 1992.
The amended funding rules do not apply to the City of Regina’s pension plan. The government is waiting for the conclusion of negotiations respecting plan amendments before considering application of these rules to the pension plan.
The new rules came into effect on June 26, 2013.