Question Period Note: EMPLOYMENT INSURANCE SERVICE STANDARDS

How is the Government of Canada managing the Employment Insurance processing and Employment Insurance call centres?

The Employment Insurance program is one of the pillars of Canada’s social safety net, providing vital income support to Canadians when they need it most. The Department makes every effort to serve all individuals fairly and in a timely manner.

Service Canada is exceeding its’ service standards for processing Employment Insurance applications, claims and answering client calls.

Meanwhile, Service Canada continues to implement improvements to the Employment Insurance Program through the use of digital tools and automation.

The EI inventory is composed of Initial, Renewal, and Revised claims, with prioritization given to Initial and Renewal claims to put clients into pay:

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

Service Canada’s 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 2025-26, as of August 31, 2025, 90.2% of EI payments, or notifications of non-payment, were made within 28 days, compared to 87.2% over the same period in 2024-25, 84.7% in 2023-24 and 75.8% in 2022-23.

In 2025-26, as of August 31, 2025, the average number of days it took for a client to receive their first EI payment was 16 days, compared to an average of 18 days over the same period in 2024-25, 20 days in 2023-24 and 27 days in 2022-23.

In 2025-26, as of August 2025, 1,322,677 EI Initial and Renewal applications have been received and 1,306,168 have been processed.

EI Call Centre

Individuals can use one of Service Canada’s online or telephone self-service options to obtain general program information or consult their EI account, allowing them to resolve enquiries without waiting to speak to a representative.

Service Canada also offers a teletypewriter (TTY) service for speech and hearing-impaired clients to access the EI program. In August 2024, Service Canada implemented a modernized TTY service, allowing calls to be answered directly by an officer rather than leaving a message.

In fall 2024, Service Canada launched virtual hold for the EI Call Centre, where clients waiting to speak to an officer can be called back when they are the next in line.

The EI Call Centre’s service level target is answering 80% of calls within 10 minutes.

The year-to-date service level, as of the week ending August 22, 2025, stood at 79.20%, compared 76.64% for the same period in 2024-25, and 81.90% for the same period in 2023-24.

While the EI Call Centre continues to find innovative ways to enhance the client experience, certain peak periods are expected to result in an influx of call volumes and longer wait times for workers.

Employment Insurance (EI) Processing

In 2024-25, the Department made considerable progress in reducing the claims inventory and meeting its service standards through workload strategies and process innovations.

The program is managed through a National Operating Model that ensures workload is managed effectively and efficiently, putting clients into pay as quickly as possible.

The service standard is to finalize 80% of claims within 28 days of the date an application is received. In 2025-26, as of August 31, 2025, Service Canada processed 90.2% of EI claims within 28 days, exceeding the service standard.

EI Call Centre

Service Canada continuously works to align call handling capacity to the call volume to ensure workers have timely access to the information and support they require. While Service Canada continues to look for ways to enhance the client experience and reduce wait times.

Various strategies are being implemented to address call centre wait times. Service Canada now offers virtual hold, allowing callers waiting to speak to an officer the option to be called back when they are next in line or use online or telephone self-service options. This service is also available for clients with speech and hearing impairments through a teletypewriter service.

In 2025-26, as of the week ending August 22, 2025, the EI Call Centre has answered 2.19 million calls with an average wait time of 5.5 minutes.