Proposed Expansion of the Operational Service Early Retirement Program
The following proposals are subject to approval by the Parliament as part of the Budget 2025 and related legislation. Please bookmark this page for updates.
The Government of Canada has reaffirmed its commitment to broaden the operational service early retirement program to include frontline employees from additional occupational groups. Implementing this expansion will require both legislative and regulatory changes.
Program Overview
The operational service program permits certain eligible members to retire earlier with an immediate unreduced pension after completing 25 years of actual operational service. Alternatively, eligible members may retire at age 50 with at least 10 years of actual and 10 years of deemed operational service.
As with all members of the public service pension plan, participants accrue pensionable service at approximately 2% per year, meaning a 25-year career offers about a 50% pension benefit at retirement.
Groups Affected by the Expansion
This change would extend to frontline federal workers in the following groups, acknowledging their demanding daily work to keep Canadians safe and secure:
- Border services officers
- Parliamentary protection officers
- Search and rescue personnel
- Federal and territorial firefighters
- Paramedics
- Correctional employees
The Government of Canada reaffirmed its commitment to expand the operational service early retirement program to frontline employees of additional occupational groups.
This expansion recognizes the important and challenging roles these frontline workers perform.
Author's summary: The Government of Canada plans to extend early retirement benefits to more frontline workers, reflecting their critical and demanding duties in public safety.