Retiree Benefit Program

Application form

The Retiree Benefit Program (RBP) is a negotiated entitlement available to qualified retired members covered by the Nurses' Bargaining Association (NBA) collective agreement. It is a unique program that draws on a special Retiree Benefit Fund set up to help provide nurses with better retirement benefits and better inflation protection for their pension.

The RBP is funded exclusively from the one (1) percent market adjustment of payroll collected from employers by the HEABC and subsequently transferred to BCNU on behalf of the NBA.

Click on the "Eligibility" button below to learn more about how to qualify for RBP benefits and for examples that show how a member may or may not be eligible.

Funding for LPN inclusion in the RBP started April 1, 2024.  Their inclusion was negotiated during 2022-2025 NBA contract negotiations and is a welcome expansion of the program.

LPN Committee Member Appointed

The RBP Committee engaged in a governance review to identify options to increase LPN representation on the committee. The review determined that one position on the RBP Committee would be allocated to a retired LPN member and the other to an active LPN member.

The RBP Committee welcomes Marlene Goertzen, retired LPN member and retired regional council member from the Central Vancouver region to serve on the committee. Goertzen joins Danette Thomsen, regional council member from the North East region, who was appointed in December as the committee’s active LPN member.

Goertzen and Thomsen will serve alongside fellow committee representatives appointed by BCNU and one representative appointed by the Health Sciences Association. Committee work includes monitoring RBP fund investments, determining member benefits, reviewing appeals and overseeing service providers contracted to administer the program. The committee meets a minimum of four times a year at BCNU’s head office in Burnaby.

Retired LPN members wishing to serve on the RBP Committee were invited to submit an expression of interest form no later than Jan. 14, 2025, at 12:00 noon PST. The committee wishes to thank those who put their name forward for consideration.

The RBP committee will benefit from the perspective and input of LPN representation.

The committee will develop the process and application forms for LPN enrolment, and the full process will be confirmed as soon as possible.

Attention retired LPNs : Please note that the RBP application form linked on this webpage is currently only applicable to retired RNs and RPNs. It is not yet validated for use by retired LPNs. The LPN enrolment process confirmation mentioned above will provide retired LPNs with an application form to enrol in the Retiree Benefit Program. Thank you for your patience while this process is determined.

Plan Design Review Process

The RBP Committee is responsible for administering the RBP fund. In the spring of 2023, the committee commenced a Plan Design Review process to identify benefits options for eligible retirees for the future use of the fund. The Plan Design Review process included a member survey to help the RBP Committee determine the health benefits members value most.

The RBP Committee has learned from the member survey that our retired members highly prioritize health benefit options that are not taxable to the members. Following the survey, the RBP Committee identified a Health Care Spending Account as a possible plan design for the RBP.

BCNU, on behalf of the NBA, recently submitted a request for an Advance Income Tax Ruling with the Income Tax Rulings Directorate of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). The request is to confirm the tax treatment of the RBP fund to support the RBP by providing the health benefits covered through a Health Care Spending Account on a tax-free basis. During the estimated three to four months during which CRA will be reviewing the request for the Advance Income Tax Ruling, no changes will be made to or benefit payment paid from the RBP Fund. Additional updates will be provided to members as this work continues.

Program Background

From 2009 through 2019, members enrolled in the RBP received a monthly subsidy covering 50 percent of their Medical Service Plan (MSP) premiums. BCNU was proud to provide this service to our members which concluded as of 2020 when the provincial government eliminated MSP premiums for BC residents.

In the fall of 2022, the Pension Governance Review Process concluded with no recommended change to the existing pension arrangement for NBA members. On November 8, 2022, considering that the RBP Fund would not be utilized within an existing pension plan for inflation protection or other benefits, the RBP committee passed a motion to commence an RBP Plan Design Review Project to consider funding and benefits issues and options for the future use of the fund. 

The Plan Design Review commenced in the spring of 2023 and included a member survey a few months later to help determine the health benefits members value most.

More Background

The Retiree Benefit Program (RBP) has been administering funds contributed to the Retiree Benefit Program Fund in accordance with a provision in the collective agreement negotiated by the Nurses’ Bargaining Association (NBA) in 2006. The contract language remains effective and states that 1 percent of market adjustment is contributed to the fund to “provide funding for inflation protection and benefits for retirees”.

Prior to Jan. 1, 2020, the RBP distributed funds to retired members in the form of MSP premium subsidies; that is one reason why the NBA negotiated the creation of the Pension Review Committee (PRC) which is separate from the RBP. The PRC mandate was to review potential changes to the governance of nurses’ pensions that would allow for the Retiree Benefit Fund to be integrated into the existing pension plan to provide inflation protection and group benefits superior to what was available through the pension plan. The Pension Governance Review was delayed from March 2020 to September 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Once the review concluded, and in consideration of the length of time needed to complete it, the RBP committee passed a motion to direct a one-time $500 payment to eligible retirees who retired on or before Dec. 31, 2022. Applications for this one-time payment were accepted until Nov. 30, 2023.

Members who retired on or after Jan. 1, 2023, are welcome to submit an RBP application form to be eligible for future benefits as determined by the RBP committee.

Eligibility

To qualify for RBP benefits, nurses who are members of the NBA Provincial Collective Agreement at the time of retirement may be eligible. An “Eligible Retiree” meets all the following criteria:

(a) has been a member of one of the NBA’s constituent unions for at least two consecutive years as at the member’s date of retirement and retired under the Provincial Collective Agreement. For purposes of determining whether a person is an Eligible Retiree, “retirement” shall mean the date at which the Eligible Retiree is in receipt of a pension payment from the MPP (Municipal Pension Plan), PSPP (Public Service Pension Plan), or CBSPP (Canadian Blood Services Pension Plan);

(b) is in receipt of a pension from either the MPP, the PSPP or the CBSPP; and

(c) at the date of retirement, the member worked a minimum of four hundred (400) hours in an approved status under the Provincial Collective Agreement (ie. regular or casual status) in each of the two years prior to date of retirement, or in each of the two calendar years immediately preceding the calendar year in which the member retired.

Examples of Ineligibility

Some members may not be eligible to receive RBP benefits. Former members under the NBA are not eligible in the following examples:

• If you terminated employment prior to retirement and retired when you were not a member of one of the NBA unions. For example, if you terminated employment as a Registered Nurse and member under the Nurses' Bargaining Association at a hospital in BC and went to work at a doctor's office or private health care setting prior to retirement.

• If you were a BC Nurses’ Union/Health Sciences Association member but were employed at a site covered by the Nurses Master and Component Agreement with the provincial government when you retired.

• If you retired as an employee in health care but your union was not under the Nurses' Bargaining Association such as the Hospital Employees Union (HEU).

• If you were not a member of one of the NBA’s constituent unions for at least two consecutive years at your date of retirement.

• If you did not work the required number of hours in an approved status under the Provincial Collective Agreement (i.e., regular, or casual status) in each of the two years prior to the date of retirement or in each of the two calendar years immediately preceding the calendar year in which you retired.

• If you retired from a non-union position, such as an excluded nurse manager.

How to Apply

• Use the Application Form button on this page to download the form.  You must download the application form before you complete it because if you attempt to complete the form in your web browser - without downloading it first – you will not be able to save the content entered in the fillable fields and you will submit an empty form.

• Print a hard copy of your completed form and have it physically signed by a witness of majority age.

• Send completed application by mail or email to the RBP Administrator at BCNU (see addresses on application form).

• Call BCNU at 604-433-2268 or 1-800-663-9991 to request an application form.

Information for Retirees Registered With RBP

• Registered RBP members will automatically receive approved program benefits.

• Any changes to the program will automatically apply to registered and qualified members – there is no need to reapply.

• Benefit subsidy will be reviewed yearly and posted on the BCNU website.

Working and retired BCNU members can encourage other retired members to apply for the Retiree Benefit Program to receive any future benefits. The goal of the program is to provide ongoing benefits to retirees, however, RBP benefits are not guaranteed. If you receive a payment for which you are not eligible, the RBP Committee is entitled to recover any such payments.

Email rbp@bcnu.org for more information.