Question Period Note: BENEFIT VALIDATION (CCB)

Why is the Canada Revenue Agency reviewing the eligibility of benefit recipients for the Canada Child Benefit?

• The government remains committed to ensuring that Canadians receive the benefits to which they are entitled.

• To maintain public confidence in the fairness and integrity of its benefit programs, the Canada Revenue Agency may ask recipients to validate the information on which benefits are based.

• Benefits are not stopped during a review.

• The Agency recognizes that it can sometimes be challenging for individuals to provide the information the Agency needs to complete its review.

• In these cases, it is important that they contact the Agency so that they can receive assistance.

• The Agency continues to improve its processes and services to better serve Canadians.

Supplementary:

• Over the last 5 years, the Agency has:
• issued benefit and credit payments of $138 billion.
• reviewed over 1.66 million accounts; that is, an average of 332,000 accounts per year.
• through its validation efforts, the net amount to be repaid to the Agency represents less than 1% of amounts issued to Canadians.

• Validation reviews identify correct entitlements and do not always result in benefits being reduced. In many instances, recipients’ benefits increase as a result of new information obtained during the review.

The Canada Revenue Agency administers the child and family benefits and credits program on behalf of the federal government and the provinces and territories. These benefits include the Canada child benefit (CCB). In order to maintain public confidence in the integrity of Canada’s tax and benefit system, the Agency carries out validation reviews on a yearly basis. The Agency uses impartial and non-discriminatory criteria to select accounts for review, and does not target any specific communities or groups of people.

These reviews are conducted to ensure that individuals are eligible for the benefits and credits they are receiving, and that the amounts have been correctly calculated. These reviews may result in adjustments being processed to the child and family benefits and credits being received by individuals. Individuals may be required to repay amounts already issued, or they may be entitled to additional benefits, depending on the outcome of the review. Benefits are not stopped during the review.

The Agency recognizes that it can sometimes be challenging for individuals to provide the requested information the Agency needs to complete its review of the file, and that it might not always be possible for individuals to send all the information to the Agency on time. If benefit recipients have questions, cannot provide the requested information or meet the deadline indicated in the letter, it is important that they contact the Agency to obtain an extension, and to discuss what other supporting documents could be sent instead. The Agency also provides an extensive list of documents a benefit recipient can submit to validate their eligibility on its website.

The Agency regularly conducts public opinion research with Canadians to improve how we deliver tax services and benefits. Recently the Agency conducted focus groups to better understand why individuals are not responding to Benefits Validation Review letters and determine what the Agency can do to encourage people to respond. What Canadians told us was that providing the information requested in a timely manner can be a challenge.

We got the message and are committed to taking steps to improve the services we offer. In fact we have already taken the following steps:

• If we don’t hear from a benefit recipient by the date specified in their letter, we are now reaching out to them by telephone to offer them assistance, before making any changes to their benefits.
• We have reduced the number of documents required to support a claim to benefits and we are committed to continually updating the list of acceptable documents to add ones that are easier for people to obtain and provide.
• Our letters have been rewritten to make them easier to read and understand what is required. We have also added information on what to do if they cannot get the documentation requested, if they need more time to respond or need help to understand what is required.
• We have redesigned and improved the content on Canada.ca to answer the most common questions that lead people to call the Agency and to provide a more user-friendly experience.
• Individuals who have difficulty getting the documents required or who need more time are encouraged to contact us as soon as possible. We can work with them to find acceptable alternatives, and we can give them more time to respond if they need it.
• The Agency has also taken steps to improve call centre service. We have hired more call centre agents to improve telephone access, increased self-serve options on individual tax and benefit enquiry phone lines, and we have increased queue wait times cut-offs from an average of two to five minutes to increase the number of callers who get into the phone queue to speak with an agent. This has reduced the need for callers to make multiple call attempts to reach the Agency.

In the pursuit of service excellence, the Agency will continue to measure progress and performance, make adjustments as necessary, and demonstrate how it has achieved tangible results.

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