Question Period Note: EMPLOYMENT INSURANCE PROCESSING

Employment Insurance Program Performance

• The Employment Insurance program is one of the pillars of Canada’s social safety net and plays a pivotal role in the lives of workers, providing vital income support when they need it most.

• The Department is fully mobilized and makes every effort to serve all individuals fairly and in a timely manner. It has implemented workload and workforce strategies to serve clients more efficiently, while we continue to experience year-over year increase in claims intake.

• The Employment Insurance program will continue to make progress in areas where possible and needed through the use of innovative strategies, including increased automation. The program is managed through a National Operating Model that ensures workload is managed effectively and efficiently to put clients into pay as quickly as possible.

On November 3, 2022, the Fall Economic Statement announced $1.02B for Service Canada to process EI and Old Age Security claims faster, while reducing the EI claim inventory. In addition, $574M was announced to reduce the EI and Pensions Call Centre wait times.

EI Processing Speed of Payment

Service Canada’s key client service performance indicator for timeliness of EI claims processing is Speed of Payment (SOP). The target is to issue a payment, or notification of non-payment, to clients within 28 days of filing their application for benefits, 80% of the time.

In 2024-25, as of the month ending August 31, 2024 (the latest available statistic), 87.2% of EI payments, or notifications of non-payment, were made within 28 days for the whole of Canada, compared to 84.7% over the same period in 2023-24 and 75.8% in 2022-23. By region, on
August 31, the results for 2024-25 were:
• 91.1% for the Atlantic Region (compared to 90.3% in 2023-24 and 82.4% in 2022-23)
• 86.0% for the Quebec Region (compared to 78.6% in 2023-24 and 74.6% in 2022-23)
• 87.5% for the Ontario Region (compared to 86.3% in 2023-24 and 76.0% in 2022-23)
• 86.6% for the Western Canada and Territories Region (compared to 86.0 % in 2023-24 and 74.2% in 2022-23)

In 2024-25, as of August 31, 2024, the average number of days it took for a client to receive their first EI benefit payment was 18 days, compared to an average of 19 days over the same period in 2023-24 and 25 days in 2022-23.

In 2024-25, as of the week ending August 31, 2024, 1,282,361 EI Initial and Renewal applications have been received and 1,262,197 have been processed.

EI Inventory

The EI inventory is composed of Initial, Renewal and Revised claims.
• Initial claim: a new application to establish an EI claim
• Renewal claim: an application to renew or reactivate an existing claim that has already been established and has weeks of entitlement remaining
• Revised claim: created when updated or new information is received during the claim lifecycle. New information may be provided by the client, the employer, or by third parties

The EI network prioritizes Initial and Renewal claims to put clients into pay. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the various measures that were implemented to ingest and process the unprecedented volumes of EI applications caused the Revised inventory to increase significantly.

The Department received multi-year funding to reduce the inventory to a sustainable level over the next three years (by the end of 2024-25). The Inventory Stabilization Strategy (ISS) began in 2022-23 and the EI network hired and trained 640 incremental resources in 2022-23 which enabled the Department to focus on inventory reduction and meeting service standards in 2023 24. The ISS initiatives supported significant reduction of claim inventories while positioning the network to continue meeting its service standards. Between April 1, 2022 and March 31, 2024, the EI inventories were reduced by over 500,000 claims (approximately 50%).

If pressed
• The Department has made significant progress in meeting service standards and meeting program demands. This was possible due to investments received in 2022 that allowed it to train and upskill its workforce, as well as workload strategies and process innovations. With this investment, the Department is meeting its service standards and has improved call centre results.

• In 2023-24, from April 1 to August 31, the Department provided payment or notice of non-payment within 19 days, on average, after the application was received. This is 9 days earlier than the 28-day standard and 6 days sooner than the average days to payment in 2022-23.

• Service Canada’s service standard is to finalize 80% of claims within 28 days of the date the EI application is received. In 2024-25, as of August 31, 2024, Service Canada processed 87.2% of Employment Insurance claims within 28 days.

• Occasionally, processing may take longer than 28 days, especially during peak periods or for the most complex files. For claims not completed within 28 days, the average processing time is between 29 and 35 days. In 2024-25, as of August 31, 2024, the average number of days it took for a client to receive their first Employment Insurance benefit payment was 18 days.