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CPP increase......No OAS increase ?

5K views 5 replies 4 participants last post by  HaroldCrump 
#1 · (Edited)
The CPP is going up in January by 1.8%...........but there is no January quarterly increase for the OAS.

The government statement says it will be "reviewed" in April 2015.

Does this mean the cost of living for the last quarter of the year was 0%.............or is the OAS always subject to a "review" ?

Interesting the different language used for the CPP and OAS increases.

The CPP is "revised" and the "OAS" is reviewed.

http://news.gc.ca/web/article-en.do?nid=916899
 
#2 ·
Found the answer to my own query.............

Yup...............the government determined the cost of living increased 0% from the previous quarter............therefore no increase in benefits.

As an example, indexation for the January to March 2015 period was calculated by comparing the average CPI for the August to October 2014 period to the average CPI for the May to July 2014 period, which is the last period in which OAS benefit amounts increased. The most recent 3-month average did not exceed the latter 3-month average, resulting in the OAS benefit amounts remaining the same for this quarter.
 
#3 ·
sags - If it's of any consolation, the OAS has already increased from $551.54 in Jan 2014 to $563.74 in Dec 2014 (an increase of 2.212%). If the $551.54 January rate had remained in effect through December and had the same 1.8% increase as CPP, it would only be $561.47 effective Jan 2015. It appears that the quarterly increases of OAS are better than the annual increases of CPP, at least for this year.
 
#6 ·
sags, keep in mind that inflation indexation is already factored into the CPP, but not in OAS.

OAS is paid out of general tax revenues and therefore any inflation adjustment should always be at the discretion of the Ministry of Finance.
That is only prudent and fiscally responsible.

On the other hand, CPP contributions and RoR assumptions already include indexation.
 
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