John Hancock Bond Trust

John Hancock California Tax-Free Income Fund

John Hancock Municipal Securities Trust

John Hancock Sovereign Bond Fund

John Hancock Strategic Series

John Hancock Tax-Exempt Series Fund

(each a “Trust”)

Supplement dated October 4, 2013 to the current Statement of Additional Information, as supplemented

The “Transfer Agent Services” section is hereby revised and restated as follows:

John Hancock Signature Services, Inc., P.O. Box 55913, Boston, Massachusetts 02205-5913, a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of Manulife Financial Corporation, is the transfer and dividend paying agent for the Class A, Class B, Class C, Class I, Class R1, Class R2, Class R3, Class R4, Class R5, and Class R6 shares of the series of the Trusts (the “Funds”), as applicable. Each Fund’s Statement of Additional Information specifies the share classes offered by that Fund.

The fees paid to Signature Services are determined based on the cost to Signature Services of providing services to the Funds and to all other John Hancock affiliated funds for which Signature Services serves as transfer agent (“Signature Services Cost”). Signature Services Cost includes: (i) an allocable portion of John Hancock corporate overhead; and (ii) out-of-pocket expenses, including payments made by Signature Services to intermediaries and other third-parties (“Subtransfer Agency Fees”) whose clients and/or customers invest in one or more funds for sub-transfer agency and administrative services provided to those clients/customers. Signature Services Cost is calculated monthly and allocated by Signature Services among four different categories as described below based generally on the Signature Services Cost associated with providing services to each category in the aggregate. Within each category, Signature Services Cost is allocated across all of the John Hancock affiliated funds and/or classes for which Signature Services provides transfer agent services, on the basis of relative average net assets.

Retail Share and Institutional Classes of Non-Municipal Bond Funds. An amount equal to the total Signature Services Cost associated with providing services to Class A, Class B, Class C, Class ADV, Class T, Class I, and Class I2 shares of all non-municipal series of the Trusts and of all other John Hancock affiliated funds for which it serves as transfer agent, excluding out-of-pocket expenses for Subtransfer Agency Fees, is allocated pro-rata based upon assets of all Class A, Class B, Class C, Class ADV, Class T, Class I, and Class I2 shares in the aggregate, without regard to fund or class. Out-of-pocket expenses for Subtransfer Agency Fees attributable to Class A, Class B, Class C, Class ADV and Class T shares are borne solely by those share classes and are allocated pro-rata based upon assets of all Class A, Class B, Class C, Class ADV and Class T shares in the aggregate, without regard to fund or class. Out-of-pocket expenses for Subtransfer Agency Fees attributable to Class I and Class I2 shares are borne solely by those share classes and are allocated pro-rata based upon assets of all Class I and Class I2 shares in the aggregate, without regard to fund or class. The Funds do not offer Class I2, Class ADV or Class T shares. John Hancock California Tax-Free Income Fund, John Hancock Municipal Securities Trust and John Hancock Tax-Exempt Series Fund currently do not offer any non-municipal bond funds.

Class R6 Shares. An amount equal to the total Signature Services Costs associated with providing services to Class R6 shares of the Trusts and all other John Hancock affiliated funds for which it serves as transfer agent, is allocated pro-rata based upon assets of all such shares in the aggregate, without regard to fund or class.

Retirement Share Classes. An amount equal to the total Signature Services Costs associated with providing services to Class R1, Class R2, Class R3, Class R4 and Class R5 shares of the

Trusts and all other John Hancock affiliated funds for which it serves as transfer agent is allocated pro-rata based upon assets of all such shares in the aggregate, without regard to fund or class. In addition, payments made to intermediaries and/or record keepers under Class R Service plans will be made by each relevant fund on a fund- and class- specific basis pursuant to the applicable plan.

Municipal Bond Funds. An amount equal to the total Signature Services Cost associated with providing services to Class A, Class B, and Class C shares of all John Hancock affiliated municipal bond funds for which it serves as transfer agent, including out-of-pocket expenses for Subtransfer Agency Fees, is allocated pro-rata based upon assets of all such shares in the aggregate, without regard to fund or class. John Hancock municipal bond funds currently only offer Class A, Class B and Class C shares. John Hancock Bond Trust, John Hancock Sovereign Bond Fund, and John Hancock Strategic Series currently do not offer any municipal bond funds.

In applying the foregoing methodology, Signature Services seeks to operate its aggregate transfer agency operations on an “at cost” or “break even” basis. The allocation of aggregate transfer agency costs to categories of funds and/or classes assets seeks to ensure that shareholders of each class within each category will pay the same or a very similar level of transfer agency fees for the delivery of similar services. Under this methodology, the actual costs associated with providing particular services to a particular fund and/or share classes during a period of time, including payments to intermediaries for sub-transfer agency services to clients or customers whose assets are invested in a particular fund or share class, are not charged to and borne by that particular fund or share classes during that period. Instead, they are included in Signature Services Cost, which is then allocated to the applicable aggregate asset category described above and then allocated to all assets in that category based on relative NAVs. Applying this methodology could result in some funds and/or classes having higher or lower transfer agency fees than they would have had if they bore only fund- or class-specific costs directly or indirectly attributable to them.

In the “Sales Compensation” section, the fourth section in the “First Year Brokerage or Other Selling Firms Compensation” table is hereby revised and restated as follows:

	Investor pays sales charge (% of offering price)	Selling Firm receives commission	Selling Firm receives Rule 12b-1 service fee	Total Selling Firm compensation
Investments of Class A shares of $1 million or more (Each Fund other than the Tax-Free Funds)
First $1M - $4,999,999	--	0.75%	0.25%	1.00%
Next $1 - $5M above that	--	0.25%	0.25%	0.50%
Next $1 or more above that	--	0.00%	0.25%	0.25%
Investments of Class A shares of $1 million or more (Tax-Free Funds)
First $1M - $4,999,999	--	0.75%	0.15%	0.90%
Next $1 - $5M above that	--	0.25%	0.15%	0.40%
Next $1 or more above that	--	0.00%	0.15%	0.15%

You should read this Supplement in conjunction with the Statement of Additional Information and retain it for future reference.