Question Period Note: Employment Insurance Program Performance.

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 Canadians, providing vital income support when they need it most.

Despite the unprecedented number of claims received in recent years, the EI processing network is fully mobilized and focussed on issuing payments or providing a notification of non-payment to clients as soon as possible.

If pressed (French Processing)

In 2023-24, as of November 30, Service Canada hired and trained 213 processing officers in the Quebec and Atlantic Regions. Most of these officers can work in French, increasing French processing capacity.

If pressed (Québec Region)

In 2023-24, as of November 30, 2023, Speed of Pay results for the Quebec Region were 80.8%, which is lower than Service Canada’s three other regions.

This is explained by EI’s work to reduce the inventory of older pending claims which was necessary to improve service to clients in the Quebec Region.

If Pressed (Office of the Auditor General (OAG) Report – October 19, 2023/Benefits Delivery Modernization (BDM))

BDM is the largest IT-enabled transformation initiative ever undertaken by the Government of Canada. Through a staged and cautious approach, including keeping the existing systems running in parallel during the transformation process, and progressive transfer of client segments into the new systems, the Programme will modernize how the federal government serves all Canadians, by replacing old systems and technology with new upgraded systems fit for the digital age.

ESDC/Service Canada will work with the Treasury Board Secretariat to develop and share approaches to support other departments, including reviewing practices from similar large-scale initiatives.

ESDC will maintain a risk log at the Programme and project level to manage and mitigate risks and unknowns.

If pressed (Canadians are growing impatient as they wait months for employment insurance checks)

Workload is managed strategically, allowing officers to process claims for pay-affected clients first.  This supports client concerns being addressed more quickly. Claimants must ensure that they have submitted all the information and documents required to ensure timely processing and have received their access code to complete their bi-weekly reports to reduce delays in receiving their benefits.

There are three main reasons why it takes longer to process some claims: (1) Missing information or documents; (2) Files are referred to Integrity for investigation (dormant SIN, potential fraud, failed validation, inconsistent information); or (3) Additional fact-finding with the claimant or the employer is required for a decision to be rendered and the processing of the claim to be completed for the more complex claims.

Service Canada’s service standard is to finalize 80% of claims within 28 days of the date the EI application is received. From April to November 2023, Service Canada processed 85.5% of EI 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 2023-24, as of November 30, 2023, 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 25 days over the same period in 2022-23.

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 claimants within 28 days of filing their application for benefits, 80% of the time.

In 2023-24, as of the week ending December 9, 2023 (the latest available statistic), 89.9% of EI payments, or notifications of non-payment, were made within 28 days for the whole of Canada, compared to 83.5% over the same period in 2022-23. By region, as of November 30, 2023, the results were:

91.5% for the Atlantic Region (compared to 84.8% in 2022-23);

80.8% for the Quebec Region (compared to 73.9% in 2022-23);

86.2% for the Ontario Region (compared to 75.0% in 2022-23); and,

86.2% for the Western Canada and Territories Region (compared to 74.2% in 2022-23).

In 2023-24, as of November 30, 2023, 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 25 days over the same period in 2022-23.

In 2023-24, as of the week ending December 9, 2023, 2,062,104 EI Initial and Renewal applications have been received and 2,041,807 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 COVID19 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 has hired and, as of November 30, trained 213 incremental resources in 2023-24 to meet service standards while it reduces the inventory.

None