VA could swiftly clear backlog, PBO says

YEAR'S TIME

OTTAWA •VeteransaffairsCanadacanclearitsbacklogofdisabilitybenefitapplicationsinayearifithiresnearly400morepeople,saystheparliamentarybudgetoffice.

The number ofp endingapplications for benefits hadreachedalmost 50,000 bythe end of march , up fromabout 21,000 three years earlier .More than 22,000 of the applications were consideredcomplete and were waiting only for decisions by the department.

In june , veteransaffairssaid it would extendcontractsfor 160 employees ithad hired temporarily to process applications , and would add another 300 to their number.

T hep bo says all these extra people will only reducethe back log by about 10,000 applications by march 2022, but hiring an additional 392 employees , for a total of 852, would end it in 12 months.

Thecostoftheadditionalhireswouldbeabout$126millionfromnowuntiltheendoffiscalyear2024—25,accordingtothepbo.

Cameron Mcneill, aspokesman for VeteransAffairs Minister LawrenceMacaulay,saidthedepartmentisawarethattoomanyveteransarewaitingtoolongfordecisionsontheirapplications.

“Wecanandmustdobetter,”mcneillsaidinastatementmonday.

Butthepboreportdoesnottakeintoaccountotherstepsthedepartmentistakingtomaketheprocessfasterandmoreefficient,saidMcneill.

Amym eu ni er , the directorgeneral for the centralizedoperationsdivision at veteransaffairscanada said theyare increasing the number of peopleprocessing the application sand also simplifying the process toto avoid another backlog down the road.

Meuniersaidthedepartmentisplanningmoredigitizationandstreamlining,tospeedupexchangesofinformation.

Shesaidthedepartmentisalsolookingatpartneringwith the Canadian ArmedForcestoaccessveterans’health records in orderto determine more easilywhetheraninjurywasrelatedtoserviceornot.

Since 2015, the numberofdisabilitybenefitapplicationshasincreasedbymorethan60percentincludinganincreaseofmorethan90percentinfirst-timeapplications.

The department saysthat’sduetonewprograms,the increasing awarenessaboutservicesandbenefitsand the growing demandformentalhealthservices.

NDP Veterans Affairscriticrachelblaneysaidina statement Monday thatveteransarenotgettingthesupporttheyneed.

ThepboreportwaspreparedafterarequestfromBlaneyregardingtheservicestandardsforprocessingtheapplications.

“Thisiscompletelyunacceptable,”shesaid.

“Veterans have alreadybeen waiting too long forthe benefits and servicestheydeserve.”