Question Period Note: OLD AGE SECURITY – SERVICE DELIVERY AND MODERNIZATION

What is the status of Old Age Security service delivery results and Benefits Delivery Modernization? The Benefits Delivery Modernization (BDM) Programme is the largest digital transformation initiative ever undertaken by the Government of Canada. Through a phased approach with an expected completion date of 2030-31, the Programme is modernizing how the federal government delivers Old Age Security (OAS), Employment Insurance (EI) and Canada Pension Plan (CPP) benefits, by replacing old systems with technology fit for the digital age.

OAS is one of the Government’s largest programs, currently providing 7.7 million seniors with pension benefits every month. In 2024-25, seniors received more than $80.2 billion in benefit payments.

In 2025-26, as of February 2026, 75.2% of OAS benefits were paid in the client’s first month of entitlement, as compared to 87.3% for the same period in 2024-25 (target is 90%).

In 2025-26, as of the week ending March 31, 2026, the Pensions Call Centre answered 3.04 million calls with an average wait time of 18 minutes.

The first OAS on BDM release on the new, more modern platform (Cúram) occurred on June 12, 2023, when 600,000 OAS Foreign Benefits clients were migrated to the modern system.

On March 17, 2025, all remaining 7.4 million OAS clients were migrated to the new benefits delivery system. Since then, the new Cúram system is operating correctly.

In 2025-26, 7.7 million OAS clients received $86.2 billion in benefit payments.

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

There are 7.7 million Canadians currently receiving their Old Age Security benefit payments on time, every month.

Some Old Age Security applications may take longer to process for a variety of reasons, such as missing or additional information needed from clients, and this can result in late initial payment of their benefit. This was also the case before the transition to the new platform.

Any clients experiencing issues with their Old Age Security payments should contact Service Canada to get the required support as quickly and seamlessly as possible.

Thank you to the Members of Parliament who have raised issues about their constituents’ files for the Department’s attention. The Department is working hard to resolve issues for clients and is pleased to report that the majority of cases that are brought forward are resolved within the same day and week.

IF PRESSED (Actions taken and results)

Radio Canada reported an OAS inventory of 185,000 applications in an April 14, 2026. This is based on an Order Paper Question (Q-863) with February 2026 data.

Recognizing the importance of timely payment of benefits, Service Canada has implemented an action plan to reduce delays and prioritize putting Old Age Security clients into pay.

As a result, the number of new applications waiting to be processed is on a downward trend and continued progress is expected over the coming months.

Service Canada receives thousands of new applications every month. The overall inventory of new Old Age Security applications has decreased by 33%, from 249,922 on September 30, 2025, to 168,758 as of March 29, 2026.

The department has taken significant action on any clients awaiting payment outside of their first month of entitlement. That inventory has been reduced by 37%, from 85,500 in January 2026 to 53,400 as of March 31, 2026.

IF PRESSED (Employee Adoption)

Employment and Social Development Canada recognizes the significance of this change for employees and continues to provide them with the tools and training required for their success.

Dedicated support teams continue to provide guidance and refresher training to employees as required.

In addition, the Department’s first generative Artificial Intelligence-powered chatbot provides accurate, real-time answers to staff enquiries, allowing employees to be more productive.

IF PRESSED (Payments)

The Department has seen numerous benefits from the migration from the legacy system to the new platform. This includes the best renewal results in the history of the Guaranteed Income Supplement program, which resulted in fewer clients waiting to receive the benefits they are entitled to.

The new system introduces improved ways for clients to interact with Service Canada and for employees to review applications. For example, new online self-service features allow Canadians to submit applications and report life events without needing to call or visit an office.

Recognizing the importance of timely payment of benefits, Service Canada has implemented an action plan to reduce delays and prioritize putting Old Age Security clients into pay. As a result, the number of new applications waiting to be processed is on a downward trend and has decreased by 33% since late September, and continued progress is expected over the coming months.

Numerous measures are in place to help seniors obtain benefits in a timely manner, including automatic enrolment of certain clients in Old Age Security, a dedicated call centre, and mobile outreach services delivered directly in communities.

The Old Age Security (OAS) program is one of the largest programs of the Government of Canada. In 2024-25, the program paid $80.2 billion in benefits to 7.4 million 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 September 30, 2025, the inventory of new OAS applications was 249,922. As of March 29, 2026, the inventory is 168,758, representing a decrease of 33% or 81,164 applications. As of March 31, 2026, 53,400 applications in the inventory were outside of the first month of entitlement for initial payment.

Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) is undertaking a major transformation through the Benefits Delivery Modernisation (BDM) Programme. By 2030-31, a modern common benefits delivery platform will be used to deliver OAS, Employment Insurance (EI) and Canada Pension Plan (CPP) to Canadians.

Canada’s social services have evolved over the past half century. The Department continues to meet its service delivery mandate across a complex landscape of social programs, but aging systems limit policy agility and efficiency. Over the past decade, ESDC has spent over $1 billion maintaining legacy platforms. Without BDM, these costs will persist and grow.

ESDC is investing in the BDM Programme, which will culminate in the migration of OAS, EI and CPP to a modern processing platform, and with new capabilities added over time, transforming service delivery.

In alignment with best practices and lessons learned from other large transformation projects, OAS on BDM was implemented incrementally across three releases:

Release 1 (June 2023) migrated 600,000 International Agreement Foreign Benefit clients to the new system, demonstrating its security and stability.

Release 2 (February 2025) was a full Non-Production Pilot that tested end-to-end functionality of the new system and how prepared OAS employees were to use the new solution.

Release 3 (March 2025) was the full implementation, which successfully moved all 7.4 million clients to the modern solution.

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