Question Period Note: 2022-2023 SUPPLEMENTARY ESTIMATES (C) – CONTACT CENTRES

Why is the Canada Revenue Agency seeking funding in the Supplementary Estimates (C) to address the post-pandemic sustainability of contact centres?

• The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is committed to ensuring that Canada’s diverse population has ready access to easily understood information that it needs about taxes and benefits.
• The CRA is seeking $213.8M in funding to address the severe shortfall in contact centre funding given ongoing impacts from the pandemic and security related risks.
• Call handle time has more than doubled from the pre-pandemic average due to multiple factors, including increased technical and emotional complexity of calls and the need to put in place additional anti-fraud measures.
• Although COVID-19 benefits will phase out, increased security measures will remain as the risk of fraud continues to increase.
• The temporary funding will help alleviate short term pressures, allowing contact centre agents to be extended beyond filing season, ensuring Canadians receive the support they need.

Through the 2022-2023 Supplementary Estimates (C), the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is seeking $213.8M to address the post-pandemic sustainability of contact centres.

Contact centres were an instrumental component of the CRA’s early response to the pandemic and continue to be a lifeline for Canadians and businesses with respect to both tax issues and benefits.

Call handle time has more than doubled from the pre-pandemic average due to multiple factors, including requirements for lengthy attestations for some COVID-19 benefits, increased technical and emotional complexity of calls, time to address identify theft and account lockout situations, as well as the time required to complete applications for COVID-19 benefits on behalf of clients experiencing difficulties. The need to put in place additional anti-fraud measures to manage identity theft has also led to unexpected increases in the length of call handle time.

Although COVID-19 benefits will phase out, the increased security measures will remain as the risk of fraud continues to increase. The CRA is now a major target for fraudsters, and this has resulted in a structural shift whereby many procedures have had to change to address these issues and these procedures drive more phone calls to protect the taxpayers.

The temporary funding will help alleviate short term pressures allowing the contact centre agents to be extended beyond filing season, ensuring Canadians receive the support they need, and re-evaluate the call demand moving forward to ensure that the staffing levels are in line with the volume of calls.

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