MyVSTA

Retirement

Teachers reaching retirement are encouraged to check out the information and links below.

Retiring This Year? See This Checklist!
  • Contact VBE payroll to find out when your current health benefits end to ensure you have continuous coverage until the benefits associated with the Teachers’ Pension Plan begin.
  • Consider converting your current group life insurance to an individual life insurance policy.
  • Join the BC Retired Teachers’ Association. Contact the BCRTA re: starting/continuing Medoc travel health insurance. There are many advantages to membership, and you can have the annual $40 fee deducted directly from your pension. 
  • Join the Vancouver Retired Teachers’ Association (VRTA). Currently there is no cost for the first year for NEW members to join the BCRTA, Vancouver branch and R R Smith Foundation, as fees are waived for new members for one year. 
  • Apply to the BCTF for Associate Membership.
  • Contact the Teacher Regulation Branch of the Ministry of Education to see your options regarding maintaining your BC Teacher’s certificate if you intend to teach after retirement.
  • At age 60, if you are not working, consider applying for your Canada Pension Plan pension. For an application kit, visit the CPP website. 
  • At age 65, apply for Old Age Security (OAS). For an application kit, visit the OAS website.
  • Contact the BCTF Income Security Staff if you have questions related to any of the above.
    Phone: (604) 871-1921, Toll-free: 1 (800) 663-9163, ext. 1921
Early Retirement Incentive Program (ERIP)

The ERIP deadline for 2025-26 is now available. Click here for details.

Information about the 2026-27 deadline will be posted here once it is available.

Teachers’ Pension Plan

Free Teachers’ Pension Plan Member Education
There’s still time to register for a free member education workshop! If you’re a new member, you can take our eLearning course. Wondering how being a member of the plan, returning from parental leave, getting divorced, transferring service or choosing a pension option could affect your future? Find answers to your pension questions.

  • Members wondering how important events in their life can affect their future pension
    Making the Most of Your Pension is a 2–hour workshop that can help you maximize your pension by understanding how the decisions you make throughout your career affect your pension when you retire
  • Members approaching retirement
    Approaching Retirement is a 2–hour workshop designed to help you understand the important decisions you need to make about your pension and make the transition easier
  • New and potential members
    Getting to Know Your Pension is a 15-minute eLearning course that will introduce you to the value and benefits of plan membership

To make sure the workshops are interactive space is limited to 35 seats. They fill up quickly so register early to make sure you attend the date(s) of your choice. If the workshop is full, you can be put on a waitlist. Or, you could take a workshop at an alternative location.

For more information and to register for a workshop, visit tpp.pensionsbc.ca > click Your pension > Pension basics or Planning for retirement.

If you have taken the eLearning course and/or attended a workshop, share your experience with your colleagues so they can benefit from learning more about their pension.

Pre-Retirement Workshops

The VSTA will be hosting pre-retirement workshops, facilitated by the BC Retired Teachers’ Association (BCRTA), on Tuesday, January 26 and Wednesday, February 10, 2026. Registration for these workshops will open in early January. More information and the registration link will be shared via the VSTA Connect, and also posted here.

The BCRTA is also offering their own schedule of workshops for teachers across the province to help them plan for a successful transition to retirement. Click here for dates and registration.

VSTA Retirees’ Dinner

Members retiring in June or who retired earlier in the year are invited, along with one guest, to the annual VSTA Retirees’ Dinner. Also invited are VSTA staff reps, standing committee reps and Executive Committee members.

This year’s Retirees’ Dinner will take place on Tuesday, June 22nd, 2027. Please mark your calendars. Invitations are sent to schools in early June.

Please click here to view the program from the 2026 Retirees’ Dinner, and click here to view photographs from the evening. (MyVSTA login required)