Sears Canada Inc. – March 5, 2024
March 5, 2024
TELUS Health (formerly LifeWorks), the wind up administrator of the Sears Canada Inc. Registered Retirement Plan (the “Plan”), has released a status update regarding the wind up of the Plan, estimating that lump sum payments and annuity purchases will be complete by the end of 2025. A number of outstanding legal issues needed to be resolved before the wind up could be finalized, and the last of these was resolved as of February 2024. TELUS Health mailed an update to Plan members and beneficiaries in late December 2023 outlining the steps remaining before the eventual distribution of the Plan’s assets through lump sum payments and the purchase of annuities for members and beneficiaries with pensions in pay, as well as provisional estimates for the timing of each step.
First, TELUS Heath will file a “Wind Up Report” with the Ontario pension regulator, the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (“FSRA”). Broadly, the Wind Up Report is an actuarial report that details the assets and liabilities of the Plan, as well as the funded status of the Plan by jurisdiction. TELUS Health aims to file the Wind Up Report in the Spring of 2024. FSRA must approve the Wind Up Report before the Plan can be wound up, which can be expected to take several months.
Within three to four months of FSRA’s approval of the Wind Up Report, TELUS Health estimates that the majority of members will have received pension benefits statements and options for the settlements of pension benefits.
Finally, TELUS Health projects that the settlement of benefits by lump sum payments and annuity purchases will begin in Spring of 2025, and be completed by the end of 2025.
Further details regarding the wind up process can be found in the December 2023 update. We will provide further updates on the timing of the wind up as those details become available.