Vol. XVIII, Issue 7
February 7, 2019
CPP Premium Holiday
During its meeting January 31-February 1, the Wespath Board of Directors affirmed that the CPP Premium Holiday will end as scheduled on December 31, 2019. While the Holiday will remain in place through this year, Wespath is providing this information in recognition that many conferences have begun budgeting for 2020.
If you have questions, please contact your conference liaison or Ross Lundstrom at rlundstrom@wespath.org or 1-800-269-2244, ext. 4224.
2019 Retirement Kits
Wespath is currently mailing retirement kits to participants who intend to retire in June or July 2019. A sample kit will be mailed to conference benefit officers on February 8, 2019.
The process will mirror last year’s. Wespath will not mail paper applications for benefits (AFBs) or AFB guides. The materials provided in the kit will focus on the online process. The online benefits application—available at benefitsaccess.org—customizes applications for benefits so that retirees are presented only with information that is pertinent to their unique situations. Retirees may contact the retirement team to request printed forms.
The retirement video has been refreshed and segmented into three shorter videos:
- Online Application Overview—provides an overview of the online application process.
- Begin Your Benefits the Easy Way—shows how to request a distribution in the online application and highlights the LifeStage Retirement Income distribution service.
- Get Guidance the Easy Way—explains opportunities for support with retirement benefits decisions.
If your conference is holding meetings or workshops to help retirees complete their applications for benefits, we suggest that participants bring laptops or tablets to access their online applications during these events.
If you have questions about the retirement kits or the 2019 retirement process, please contact:
- The Retirement Team at 1-800-883-4078 or retirementteam@wespath.org,
- Your plan sponsor manager at 1-800-269-2244, ext. 7003, or
- Your conference liaison.
CPP Retiree Death Benefit Eligibility
Wespath is enhancing the Benefits Access Portal (BAP) for plan sponsors. This enhancement will enable plan sponsors to verify CPP retiree death benefit eligibility for participants who retired prior to January 1, 2019. A subsequent initiative will roll out this enhancement for participants who retire in 2019 and beyond at a future date.
This new feature will allow CPP retiree death benefit eligibility to be displayed in the BAP Plan Enrollment Module. The module will indicate if the participant is eligible, ineligible or if more research is needed to determine CPP retiree death benefit eligibility.
The enhancement will be implemented the morning of Tuesday, February 12, 2019 beginning at 6:00 a.m., Central time. During implementation, BAP will be unavailable. We apologize for any inconvenience this outage will cause.
If you have any questions about this enhancement, please contact Wespath at 1-800-851-2201, Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Central time.
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a general agency of The United Methodist Church
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