Question Period Note: DISABILITY BENEFITS PROCESSING TIMES

• Veterans Affairs Canada disability benefits program recognizes Veterans who have a service-related injury or illness. Each year, nearly $4 billion is paid to Veterans in disability benefits.
• Over the last nine years, the disability benefits program has experienced a 92% increase in applications and last year alone, applications rose by 7% with more than 86,000 new applications.
• Over the last three and a half years we have improved processing times by 40%.
• If approved, Budget 2025 will provide $184.9 million over four years, and $40.1 million ongoing to stabilize the processing capacity for disability benefits applications and allow the department to modernize operational processes and IT infrastructure.
• This investment will provide faster service for Veterans and demonstrates this government’s responsibility to ensure all Veterans and their families receive the support and services they need, when they need it from Veterans Affairs Canada.

Historically, Veterans Affairs Canada’s (VAC) capacity to address the processing time issue has been a challenge due to a continuous rise in the number of applications received since 2015-2016 and a lack of stable resource funding.
To keep pace with the rise in demand, the Government committed to a series of temporary funding measures for resourcing and automation.
In November 2023, the Government announced additional funding of $164.4 million. Part of this investment allowed VAC to retain trained temporary employees dedicated to processing disability benefit applications until March 2026.
The Department has also implemented technological improvements to speed up processing, including faster access to health provider information, streamlined document review, and prepopulated decision letters. Work continues to expand automation of routine tasks and integrate AI tools to assist decision-makers in reviewing large volumes of materials.
The service standard for disability benefits is 16 weeks for first applications and reassessments, and 12 weeks for departmental reviews, met 80% of the time. Complex cases may exceed these timelines, particularly when medical expertise is required.
Applications are fast-tracked for Veterans who are medically at risk, such as those who are palliative, of advanced age, or facing urgent unmet health needs related to their claimed condition.

QUICK FACTS & FIGURES
Processing Times
• Reduced by 40% since 2021/22.
• 39.7 weeks down to 23.9 weeks for the first two quarters of 2025/26
• Reduced gap for Female and Francophone applications. For the first two quarters of 2025-26:
o 23.8 weeks for female and 23.9 weeks for male
o 23.1 weeks for Francophone and 24 weeks for Anglophone
Applications
• Application Intake: 92% increase from 2015/16 to 2024/25
o 86,000 (2024/25) from 63,000 applications (2019/20)
o 7,200/month (2024/25) from 6,700 (2023/24). Increase of 7%
• Pending Applications (as of September 30, 2025)
o 44,170 total pending
o 12,761 over the service standard (backlog)
o 80% of first applications are from returning applicants.
• Completed Applications:
o 58,900 completed in 2024/25. Up 6% from 2023/24 (55,700)
o 5,300 / month completed in 2025/26 YTD (as of September 2025). Up 8% from 2024/25 ( 4,900 / month).
Modernization
• Budget 2025 announced investments will enable the Department to implement its long-term resourcing plan, ensuring sustained improvements in service delivery and operational efficiency.
• Additionally, if the proposed budget is approved, the Department will modernize and streamline program delivery by improving processes and integrating automation to reduce manual effort, as well as leveraging AI to support decision-makers and improve service consistency. These upgrades, along with IT infrastructure improvements that support disability benefits processing, will enhance efficiency, consistency, and client experience, while reducing processing times and enabling more timely decisions for Veterans.
• 22 Entitlement Eligibility Guidelines (EEGs) have been updated and 11 new ones developed for high volume and complex conditions.