In accordance with the UNJSPF Pension Adjustment System, there will be a 4.2% cost-of-living (COL) increase to the US dollar track of periodic benefits effective 1 April 2020. Since the last adjustment date of 1 April 2018, the United States Consumer Price Index (US CPI) published in the United Nations Monthly Bulletin of Statistics has moved 4.2% over a two-year period from December 2017 to December 2019. Please note that there was no adjustment to the US dollar track last year as the US CPI movement over a one-year period from December 2017 to December 2018 was less than the 2% threshold for COL adjustment.
Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) letters with further details will be issued by the end of April 2020. All beneficiaries who have registered for the Fund’s personalized Member Self Service (MSS) can access their COLA letter under the MSS DOCUMENTS tab as of end of April 2020. You can register for or access your MSS here.
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. When you select your country of residence outside the United States, your benefit is kept with a record of two amounts: one in US dollars adjusted by the CPI movement of the United States; and the other in local currency adjusted by the CPI movement in your country of residence.
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 1 April. In the case of a benefit awarded less than one year earlier, the adjustment is reduced proportionately.
The very first cost-of-living adjustment applied to a benefit is reduced by 0.5 percentage points.
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 situations, 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 1 April and 1 October.
For more information, please check the Cost of Living Adjustment dedicated page and the Exchange rates, CPI adjustments and Cost of Living differential factors page.
