Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) & Quarterly Statements

Understanding COLA

What is the Cost of Living Adjustment?

Your initial benefit is adjusted over time for movements of the consumer price index in the United States or for your country of residence. This means that if the consumer price index moves by 2% or more, the amount of your pension benefit will be adjusted based on the cost of living in your country of residence. For more information, click here or continue reading.

What is a Cost of Living Adjustment Letter (COLA)?

Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) letters, also known as Quarterly Statements, are informational statements provided to beneficiaries in receipt of a UNJSPF periodic benefit. These statements provide the quarterly exchange and COLA percentage applied annually to your benefit entitlements. They also detail the established monthly payable amount per quarter and the After Service Insurance Deduction, and the Total Net Payment Amount.

What are Quarterly Statements?

Quarterly statements, also known as Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) letters, are informational statements provided to beneficiaries in receipt of a UNJSPF periodic benefit. These statements provide the quarterly exchange and COLA percentage applied annually to your benefit entitlements. They also detail the established monthly payable amount per quarter and the After Service Insurance Deduction, and the Total Net Payment Amount.

What documents are issued by the Fund for retirees and beneficiaries?

Quarterly Statements, also known as Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) Letters, are informational communications provided to retirees and beneficiaries in receipt of an UNJSPF periodic benefit. Only retirees and beneficiaries in receipt of periodic benefits and whose benefits have been affected by changes in the Cost-of-Living and/or Quarterly Exchange Rate will receive these letters. The letters provide the quarterly exchange and COLA percentage applied for the determination of benefit entitlements in conformity with the UNJSPF Pension Adjustment System. They also provide the established monthly payable amount for the quarter as well as After Service Health Insurance (ASHI) deduction, if any, and Total Net Payment Amount.

Upon request, the Pension Fund can also provide retirees and beneficiaries with a Statement of Benefits, which is a yearly statement of the payments made by the UNJSPF.

Click here for information about the Annual Certificate of Entitlement (CE).

Cost of Living Adjustment

Is my benefit adjusted for cost-of-living increases?

Your initial benefit is adjusted over time for movements of the consumer price index in the United States. New periodic benefits qualify for the full amount of adjustment only if they were first awarded at least 12 months before the normal adjustment date of 1st April. In the case of a benefit awarded less than one year earlier, the adjustment is reduced proportionately. The first cost-of-living adjustment is reduced by 1.5 percentage point. However, no adjustments are made to a deferred retirement benefit while the beneficiary is under age 55.

How often will my benefit be adjusted?

Normally benefits are adjusted once a year, provided that the relevant consumer price index has moved by at least 2% since the date of the last adjustment. Such adjustments are normally undertaken in April of the following year. However, in high-inflation situation, i.e. where the consumer price index has moved by 10%or more since the date of the last adjustment, benefits are adjusted semi-annually–on 1st April and 1st October.

Will my benefit be adjusted for changes in the cost-of-living in my country of residence?

It depends: If your benefit is on the dollar track, your benefit will be adjusted periodically in accordance with the movement of the United States consumer price index (CPI). If you have opted for the Two-track system and hence submitted a proof of residence for a country outside the USA, your local track pension amount will be adjusted by the movement of the Consumer Price Index of your country of residence. Please see our page on the Two-track system or the Pension Adjustment System annexed to the Regulations and Rules of the UNJSPF for a more detailed explanation.

Will I be sure to have an adjustment each year?

Adjustments are only made if the consumer price index has moved by 2% or more since the prior adjustment. If this is not the case, the CPI movement will be carried over and applied the following year.

Will I be notified if there is a change in the amount of my benefit?

Yes, the Pension Fund will inform you whenever there is a change in the amount of your periodic benefit, such as cost-of-living adjustments, application of the Fund’s pension adjustment system, change of exchange rate, discontinuation of a child’s benefit. Please also note that should there be a change in your ASHI premium, which may affect your benefit, it is your former employing organization that will notify you and not the UNJSPF.

Fluctuating Monthly Benefit

Variations in your monthly benefit amount are most likely due to one of the following reasons:

Your monthly After Service Health Insurance (ASHI) premium deductions

If you have opted for After Service Health Insurance (ASHI) premiums to be deducted directly from your monthly pension entitlement, variations in your monthly benefit amounts can be due to fluctuations in the monthly premium amounts deducted by ASHI. As the Fund has no authority and no insight into ASHI matters, which are handled by the UN Health and Insurance Section (not the UNJSPF), we are unable to provide detailed information on how such premiums are constituted. Therefore, we invite you to directly contact ASHI and inquire about details. Please address your ASHI email communications to: ashi@un.org. Or, you may wish to contact ASHI directly through a ‘Contact Us ticket’ available on the UN Health and Life Insurance website at the following link: http://www.un.org/insurance/inquiries.

Your Bank charges

There may be charges applied by your bank. These charges are beyond the control of the Fund; therefore, the UNJSPF cannot accept responsibility for them. You may wish to discuss this matter with your bank for clarification on the exact nature of the deductions made from the amount transmitted by the Fund; you may wish to try and negotiate with your bank and request them to waive any charges given the nature of the payment, i.e., pension benefit. The levying of service fees has become an internationally accepted practice amongst banks, and this practice can be expected only to increase. While the Fund absorbs all fees levied as remittance fees, we regret that we have no control over any fees that have been contractually authorized by your bank with its correspondent bank.

Discontinuation of child benefit

If you were in receipt of a child’s benefit from the Fund, paid together with your own pension benefit, and your child reached the age of 21, you will notice a reduction in your monthly pension benefit amount, as of the month following that during which your child turned 21. Indeed, a child’s benefit is normally payable until the end of the month during which your dependent child turns 21 and is discontinued effective the following month. Click here for more information on child’s benefit.

Quarterly Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA)

Your monthly pension benefit amount can change every quarter due to the application of the quarterly cost of living adjustment (COLA). The Fund issues Quarterly Statements in which retirees and beneficiaries are informed of changes in their entitlement amount due to COLA. Click here for more information about the Quarterly Statements.

Pension Fund