Employees at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children are joining the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan’s defined benefit plan, effective Dec. 29, 2025.
Almost all active members currently enrolled in the hospital’s DB plan will transition to the HOOPP for future service, enabling these members to continue to grow their existing SickKids pension, according to a press release. A small group of employees who would be disadvantaged by this change will remain in the hospital’s DB plan, the release noted.
“Moving to a ‘future service’ model protects the value of past contributions and service, which retain their full value,” said Susan O’Dowd, the hospital’s vice-president of human resources and commercial services, in the release. “While past contributions and past service will remain with the SickKids plan, staff members’ years of service with SickKids will also count toward HOOPP’s early retirement calculations.”
Employees who have already retired, will retire before the end of 2025, or left the hospital and deferred their pension will receive a SickKids pension only.
The HOOPP currently has more than 700 participating employers across Ontario’s health-care sector, representing more than 478,000 active, deferred and retired members.