Question Period Note: OLD AGE SECURITY PROCESSING

How is the Government of Canada managing the processing of Old Age Security (OAS) applications?

Service Canada is committed to supporting seniors through timely delivery of Old Age Security benefits, including the Guaranteed Income Supplement.

Old Age Security is one of the Government’s largest programs, supporting over 7.3 million seniors and providing more than $76 billion in benefit payments in 2023-2024.

In March 2025, through the Benefits Delivery Modernization initiative, the Old Age Security program successfully migrated to a new processing platform. During this transition, millions of Old Age Security beneficiaries continued to receive their benefit payments each month without interruption.

The Government of Canada is committed to supporting seniors and providing efficient and timely old-age security benefits.

The Old Age Security (OAS) program is one of the largest programs of the Government of Canada. In 2023-2024, the program paid $76.1B in benefits to 7.3M seniors. For a significant number of these seniors, OAS benefits (including the Guaranteed Income Supplement and other income tested benefits) represent their only source of income. Not receiving these core benefits on time can cause serious financial hardship.

OAS workload refers to the processing of OAS applications, revisions to benefits and appeals, as well as the supporting elements that provide oversight, ensure timeliness, and quality. An aging population and rising life expectancy has increased the OAS client base, and therefore the workload. In addition, processing applications has become more complex due to changing demographics (more seniors have lived or worked abroad).

On March 16, 2025, Service Canada migrated OAS to a new processing platform, the largest IT transformation in federal service delivery. Inventories are expected to grow for a limited period prior to stabilizing as we adopt this new system. Service Canada planned for a 9-month transition period and is actively taking a variety of actions for staff to get used to the new system and ensure continuity of service delivery results for Canadians.

n 2024-2025, 87.5% of Old Age Security benefits were paid within the first month of entitlement, compared to 86.6% in 2023-2024 and 87.6% in 2022-2023. The service standard target is 90%.

In March 2025, Service Canada migrated OAS to a new processing platform, as part of the largest IT transformation in federal service delivery, replacing legacy systems. The new platform will ensure secure and reliable service delivery. Due to this transition, 2025-2026 service standard data is not yet available for OAS.