What Is HOOPP (Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan) and How Does It Work?

Seeing HOOPP deductions on a paycheque can make the plan look like a retirement account that grows from your deposits. It is not. The Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP) uses those contributions to help fund a pension promise, while a formula determines the retirement income you eventually receive.

HOOPP is a defined benefit pension plan offered through participating Ontario healthcare employers. Members and employers contribute while the member works, and HOOPP invests the pooled pension fund. Your eventual pension is based mainly on your earnings and contributory service rather than the investment balance of a personal account.

How HOOPP Works While You Are Employed

Once enrolled, pension contributions are deducted from your pensionable earnings and your employer contributes as well. In 2026, members contribute 6.9% of annualized pensionable earnings up to the Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings (YMPE) and 9.2% above the YMPE. Employers currently contribute $1.26 for every $1 contributed by members.

Those rates have remained unchanged since 2004 and are scheduled to remain unchanged through at least the end of 2028. Anyone trying to work out the actual deduction from a paycheque can use the more detailed breakdown of HOOPP contribution rates rather than confusing contributions with the calculation of the eventual pension.

HOOPP then invests contributions collectively rather than asking each member to choose investments. That matters because investment gains and losses do not directly determine an individual member’s monthly retirement payment in the way they would affect the value of a self-directed investment account. The pension promise comes from the defined benefit formula.

This structure also explains why HOOPP is different from an RRSP. An RRSP is an individual registered account whose eventual value depends on contributions, withdrawals, fees and investment performance. HOOPP instead provides benefits under the terms of the pension plan.

How Your HOOPP Pension Is Built

Your pension grows as you accumulate contributory service and pensionable earnings. For the basic lifetime pension calculation, HOOPP uses your average annualized earnings during your highest five consecutive years, your contributory service and the average YMPE applicable to the calculation.

The formula provides 1.5% of your average annualized earnings up to the average YMPE, plus 2% of average annualized earnings above the average YMPE, for each year of contributory service. These are plan-formula percentages, not contribution rates. Keeping the two separate prevents one of the easiest HOOPP misunderstandings.

We explain the arithmetic separately in how a HOOPP pension is calculated. For understanding how the plan works, the important point is that another year of contributory service can add another year to the pension calculation.

Part-time membership does not simply substitute a lower part-time annual salary for the earnings figure used in the pension formula. HOOPP annualizes pensionable earnings based on the equivalent full-time hours for the position, while contributory service reflects how much of the year the member actually contributed. This lets service and earnings perform separate jobs in the calculation.

When You Can Start a HOOPP Pension

HOOPP gives members a fairly wide retirement window. A lifetime pension can begin as early as age 55 or as late as age 71.

Starting before age 60 can result in an early-retirement adjustment. HOOPP removes that adjustment once you have reached age 60 or completed 30 years of eligibility service, whichever happens first. Eligibility service therefore matters differently from contributory service: one helps determine early-retirement treatment, while the other feeds into the pension formula.

Someone retiring between ages 55 and 65 also receives a temporary bridge benefit in addition to the lifetime pension. The bridge stops at age 65, or earlier if the member dies. Starting Canada Pension Plan (CPP) retirement benefits before 65 does not cause the HOOPP bridge to stop early.

That temporary payment is worth separating from the lifetime portion when planning a retirement budget. Otherwise, a member can look at the total monthly payment received at 60 and assume the same amount will continue after 65.

Your HOOPP Pension Is Paid for Life

Once retirement begins, the lifetime portion of the pension continues for the rest of the member’s life. You cannot outlive it. That lifetime commitment is one of the defining differences between a defined benefit pension and drawing down a personal pool of retirement savings.

Payments follow HOOPP’s pension schedule rather than being withdrawn whenever the member chooses. The specific calendar is covered in our HOOPP pension payment dates.

Retired members may also receive inflation protection. HOOPP’s Board of Trustees decides annually whether to provide cost-of-living adjustments (COLA), and not every portion of the adjustment is guaranteed. For 2026, HOOPP approved a 2.36% increase effective April 1, 2026 for pensions and deferred pensions.

Because future increases depend on the plan’s COLA provisions and annual decisions, it would be a mistake to build a retirement projection on the assumption that a particular percentage will arrive every year. The rules are explained in more depth in our guide to HOOPP COLA and inflation protection.

What Happens to HOOPP If You Change Jobs?

Leaving a participating employer does not erase the pension you have earned. One option is to remain a HOOPP member and leave the pension in the plan as a deferred benefit. You can later begin that pension once you become eligible, and approved COLA can apply while the pension remains deferred.

Depending on your age and circumstances, another option may be transferring the pension to an eligible locked-in retirement savings arrangement or another employer pension plan. Members who leave all HOOPP employers at age 55 or older can instead have the option of starting their monthly pension immediately.

Taking money out of a defined benefit plan is a materially different decision from leaving a deferred pension behind, so we cover the transfer question separately in whether you can cash out a HOOPP pension.

Moving from one participating HOOPP employer to another can be much simpler. Your membership can continue and service from different periods with HOOPP employers may contribute toward the same eventual pension.

HOOPP Includes More Than a Retirement Pension

The plan also contains benefits for events that can occur before or after retirement. These include survivor protection, disability benefits and provisions allowing eligible members to purchase certain periods of past service.

A service purchase can increase contributory service and, depending on the circumstances, eligibility service. That can affect the pension a member ultimately receives and sometimes the point at which an unreduced early pension becomes available. Eligibility and cost depend on the service being purchased, which is why HOOPP pension buybacks need to be considered separately rather than treated as an automatic way to fill every employment gap.

Survivor provisions can provide benefits to a qualifying spouse or other eligible recipients after a member dies. They form part of the wider rules around public-sector pension survivor benefits, although HOOPP’s own plan terms determine exactly what happens to a HOOPP pension.

How to Understand What Your Own HOOPP Pension Is Worth

Looking only at how much has been deducted from your pay will not tell you what retirement income you have earned. For a HOOPP member, the more useful figures are annualized earnings, contributory service, eligibility service and the retirement date being considered.

HOOPP Connect provides members with pension information and access to a Pension Estimator that can compare retirement scenarios. The estimator can model factors such as retiring at different ages, changes between full-time and part-time schedules and future salary changes.

We would compare more than one retirement date, especially when a member is approaching age 60 or 30 years of eligibility service. Moving across one of those milestones can change the early-retirement adjustment, while another year of employment can simultaneously add contributory service. HOOPP’s early-retirement table shows how age and completed eligibility service affect the adjustment.

Members comparing pension plans should also avoid assuming that similar-looking Ontario plans work identically. HOOPP versus OMERS is a more useful comparison when the decision involves those two plans because their contribution structures, membership and pension provisions are separate.

Other Questions About How HOOPP Works

Who can become a HOOPP member?

HOOPP membership is connected to employment with a participating employer. More than 870 Ontario employers participate in the plan, so it extends beyond a single hospital or healthcare organization.

Can a part-time employee build a HOOPP pension?

Part-time members can participate and build pension benefits. Their earnings are annualized for relevant calculations, while their contributory service reflects the proportion of full-time hours worked.

Does HOOPP replace CPP?

HOOPP and CPP are separate pensions. Membership in HOOPP does not eliminate the Canada Pension Plan that applies to pensionable employment. Anyone comparing their retirement income sources can start with how the Canada Pension Plan works rather than combining the two pensions into one calculation.

Where should you start if you are already a HOOPP member?

Check your latest pension information in HOOPP Connect and identify your contributory service, eligibility service and estimated pension at several possible retirement dates. Those three pieces of information make the rest of the plan considerably easier to understand.