Approximately 6,000 federal public servants have applied for an early retirement package, as the federal government moves ahead with plans to trim the size of the public service by 2029.
The federal government is offering the early retirement incentive program to federal public servants, inviting eligible employees to retire with an “immediate pension based on years of service, with no reduction for retiring early.”
In December, approximately 68,000 public servants received notices informing them they could be eligible for early retirement.
According to the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, 5,993 applications have been submitted for the early retirement incentive, as of May 5.
Public servants have until July 24 to apply for the early retirement (ERI) program, which will allow employees to retire with no financial penalties. Any public servant approved for the early retirement incentive package must retire by Jan. 20, 2027.
The Secretary of the Treasury Board told a House of Commons committee that part of the criteria management will look at when early retirement applications are received is “maintaining services to Canadians.”
“Obviously, if an entire team put up their hands and said we would all like to take early retirement, that would have a serious impact on the department’s ability to deliver services,” Bill Matthews said on Thursday.
“So, there’s a discussion to be had around which ones can be accepted, who is ready to take their place, or, in some cases, do you need to replace the person at all? So that’s the decision that is being made on, I’ll say, a team-by-team basis as the applications come in.”
Matthews said there are requirements around “information management.
“There is a reason we have policies in the area of information management so that records and institutional knowledge can be maintained and shared and accessed by everyone,” Matthews said.
“The tools in use by the government over the last years, have increased greatly that allow departments or employees to look at previous files, et cetera, to make sure that that institutional knowledge is not lost.”
The Canada Strong Budget 2025, released in November, outlined a plan to cut the size of the federal public service by 28,000 positions by 2029, including 12,000 employees and 350 executive positions cut through attrition and early retirement packages.
Front-line officers and staff in operational roles at the Canada Border Services Agency, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Communications Security Establishment Canada are not eligible for the early retirement incentive.
Both the Public Service Alliance of Canada and the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada have filed a policy grievance over the early retirement incentive program. PIPSC said the program “violates consultation obligations and undermines collective agreement protections.”
Early retirement eligibility
The federal government says to be eligible for early retirement, you must meet the following parameters on the day you leave the public service.
Group 1: Members who joined the public service pension plan on or before Dec. 31, 2012, and who:
- Are at least 50 years old
- Have at least two years of pensionable service
- Have at least 10 years of employment in the public service
Group 2: Members who joined the public service pension plan on or after Jan. 1, 2013, and who:
- Are at least 55 years old
- Have at least two years of pensionable service
- Have at least 10 years of employment in the public service
According to the government’s website, meeting the eligibility parameters for the Early Retirement Incentive “does not guarantee you will be approved.”
“Your Deputy Head (or equivalent) will review your application to confirm whether the following Treasury Board-approved criteria have been met — the organization needs to reduce its workforce, services to Canadians will be maintained, and current and future operational or business needs will continue to be met.”
Notices to employees
In addition to early retirement, the federal government is looking to eliminate 16,000 full-time equivalent positions through the comprehensive expenditure review.
More than 25,000 employees in the core public service have received notices since December that their jobs could be at risk.
According to the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, the departments plan to eliminate 9,220 jobs and 531 management positions through the comprehensive expenditure review. The plan includes 764 job cuts at Statistics Canada, 970 job cuts at Employment and Social Development Canada, and 1,150 jobs eliminated at Health Canada.
Data provided to CTV News Ottawa by the unions and departments show 1,387 notices have been issued to employees in nine departments outside of the 30 core public service departments.
