Most Cook County Pension Fund (CCPF) members are in the Tier 1 Plan. If your first participation date in CCPF or any Reciprocal Fund (except for Judges’ and General Assembly) is prior to January 1, 2011, you are in the Tier 1 Plan.

For details of all Tier 1 annuity benefits, view the Tier 1 Annuity and Refund Handbook.

Qualifying for an Annuity

You are considered to be vested if you have 10 or more years of service credit. This may be 10 years as a County employee or based on a combination of years of service with another Reciprocal Fund. For example: 6 years of County service plus 4 years of service with another Reciprocal Fund equals 10 years of total service.

Your Service Credit

You receive service credit while you are actively contributing to CCPF, either through payroll processing (paychecks) or while being approved for CCPF disability. Service credit is granted on a month-to-month basis. The Pension Code states that 15 days of service in a calendar month is required to receive a month of service credit.

Note: If you receive salary pay for less than 15 days in a calendar month (less than ½ a month of salary) you have not met the service requirement and you do not accrue service credit for this month.

Final Average Salary (FAS)

Your FAS is the salary used to calculate your annuity benefit. For Tier 1, your FAS is defined as the highest 4 consecutive years (48 months) of salary within the last 10 years of service.

Note: Your highest 4 years of salary can be with the County if the County was your last employer, or can be from a Reciprocal Fund if that other fund was your last employer, or your salary can be from both funds if the highest consecutive 48 months cross funds.

Benefit Accrual

The benefit accrual is 2.4% for every year of accrued service credit. For example: 10 years of service times 2.4% per year equals 24% of FAS. Refer to the Tier 1 Benefits Percentage Table to view various scenarios including age and years of service.

Normal Retirement Age

Defined as age 60 with 10 or more years of service, or minimum age 50 with 30 or more years of service.

Minimum Retirement Age

Age 50, provided you have 10 or more years of service credit. However, if you start your annuity prior to age 60 with less than 30 years of service, you are subject to an age reduction, which is ½ of 1% for each month you start your pension below the age of 60. For example: If you had between 10-29 years of service and you were starting your pension at age 50, your pension would be reduced by 60% for being 10 years below the age of 60 (0.5% x 120 months).

Maximum Benefit

The maximum annuity you can receive is 80% of your FAS.

This table illustrates benefit reductions if you do not have 30 years of service.

Age at Start of Annuity	Months below age 60	Reduction Calculation
Age 60	No age-based reduction if age 60 or older
Age 59	12 months	12 x .005 =  6%
Age 58	24 months	24 x .005 = 12%
Age 57	36 months	36 x .005 = 18%
Age 56	48 months	48 x .005 = 24%
Age 55	60 months	60 x .005 = 30%
Age 54	72 months	72 x .005 = 36%
Age 53	84 months	84 x .005 = 42%
Age 52	96 months	96 x .005 = 48%
Age 51	108 months	108 x .005 = 54%
Age 50	120 months	120 x .005 = 60%
Age 49	Not Eligible since minimum requirement is age 50

 

For illustration purposes, this age reduction table has been rounded to the whole year. However, any age reduction would be reduced for an exact age (i.e., age 59½ is only a 3% reduction).

This Tier 1 Table illustrates the difference between an employee starting their pension at age 50 vs. age 55 vs. age 60,  assuming an FAS of $3,000.00 per month.

Age	Years of Service	Age-based Reduction	Years of Svc x 2.4% x Benefit %	FAS x %	Final Monthly Amount
60	25	None	25 x 2.4% x 100% = 60.00%	$3,000 x 60.00%	$1,800.00
55	20	30%	20 x 2.4% x   70% =  33.60%	$3,000 x 33.60%	$1,008.00
50	15	60%	15 x 2.4% x   40% =  14.40%	$3,000 x 14.40%	$432.00

 

This Tier 1 Table illustrates a 30+ year pension assuming a FAS of $3,000.00 per month.

The age-based reduction does not apply with 30 or more years of service.

Age	Years of Service	Age-based Reduction	Years of Svc x 2.4% x Benefit %	FAS x %	Final Monthly Amount
50+	30	None	30 x 2.4% x 100% = 72%	$3,000 x 72%	$2,160.00
50+	33 years 4 months	None	33.33 x 2.4% x 100% = 80%	$3,000 x 80%	$2,400.00