| February 5, 2021
How Much Would it Cost Me to Transfer to the Surrey Police Service? – and Other News
The NPF remains active on the proposed Surrey police transition so we wanted to provide you with an update, as well as some important information about the potential costs Members may face in transferring their pensions from the RCMP to the BC Municipal Pension Plan (BCMPP) if they choose to patch over.
Pension Transfer Considerations:
The NPF engaged an actuarial firm to prepare a report comparing the RCMP pension plan to the BCMPP Group 5, which is the provincial pension plan for municipal police forces. Pension information is unique to each individual Member based on age, earnings and other considerations, and changes constantly over time. Unfortunately, Members will only have access to their specific transfer details after termination of employment. The information below is estimated based on actuarial analysis for two typical Member scenarios.
The key take-away here is that early and mid-career Members who choose to patch over could incur significant out-of-pocket costs to transfer their pensions from RCMP to BCMPP Group 5.
Member
(For information purposes only) |
Early career
~32 years old |
Mid career
~42 years old |
| Years of service |
5 |
15 |
| Top-up required for full BCMPP Group 5 past service pension |
$79,000 |
$109,000 |
*This chart and its interpretation are provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended to provide legal, financial, accounting or tax advice, and should not be relied upon for making employment, financial or any other decisions. The NPF accepts no responsibility for errors, omissions, inaccurate or inadvertently misleading statements. Members are advised to contact their own legal, financial, accounting or tax advisor to obtain accurate data, information or results based on a detailed review of their personal situation.
Recent Activity:
You’ve no doubt heard that the Surrey Police Service (SPS) continue to hire former RCMP Officers for their top executive positions, none of whom reside in or have recently served in Surrey; adding to the long list of broken promises:
- Chief Constable and Vancouver resident Norm Lipinski
- Deputy Chief Constable and Maple Ridge resident Jennifer Hyland
- Deputy Chief Constable Coquitlam resident, Mike LeSage
This has not gone unnoticed by local media and you might find this editorial “Surrey Police Service continues to draw from RCMP well” in the Surrey Now-Leader of interest.
To highlight the growing litany of broken promises, we have recently added a “Broken Promise Countdown” clock to our website. Please take a moment to share our site on your social media and, if you haven’t already done so, use the easy tool on the site to send a letter to Mayor and Council. Please also share this with friends and family – every voice counts.
On February 3, we issued a news release pointing out yet more costs to provincial taxpayers and an estimated four year timeframe to operationalize SPS, as identified by Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner and NDP MLA Mike Starchuk respectively. This news release resulted in coverage in the Surrey Now-Leader, and Cloverdale Reporter
As we’ve been saying, this transition is not a done deal and it won’t be happening any time soon.
We take every opportunity to point out the complete disarray, escalating costs and lack of citizen support for this transition to key decision-makers and influencers. On February 24, Brian Sauvé and Trevor Dinwoodie will speak to Surrey Board of Trade members about the exceptional police work Surrey RCMP Members provide to Surrey’s communities and the many issues with the proposed police transition. You can find more information or register for the virtual event here. Registration is free so please help spread the word for a strong virtual turnout.
Finally, we’ve just refreshed the Pollara survey of Surrey residents to gauge their opinions after the City of Surrey’s significant tax increases and found that:
- 84% agree Surrey should be reducing unnecessary spending, particularly given COVID-19, to focus on support for vulnerable citizens.
- Only 17% support replacing the RCMP with a municipal police force
- 2/3 of Surrey residents support a referendum on the transition
- 77% support keeping the RCMP, with some improvements
There’s more activity coming, and we’ll continue to keep you posted.
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- The right to vote in NPF-related elections, including for Board Directors, Local Area Representatives and AGM delegates.
- Receiving regular Member Updates on breaking issues, the evolution of collective bargaining, labour relations, and other relevant topics.
- Access to the Members only section of the NPF website, which includes our evolving Rights and Responsibilities Handbook, an FAQ, latest news and other important information.
Stay up to date by registering today: https://npf-fpn.com/become-a-member/.
Please share the benefits of Membership with RCMP colleagues who are not yet NPF Members. |
