Backlog in obtaining disability benefits
Federal department announced 350 new hires in June, but new staff will be temporary
Dennis MacKenzie has been navigating the hurdles involved in obtaining disability benefits from Veterans Affairs Canada for three years.
But the actual process really began nine years ago, before he left the Canadian Forces.
MacKenzie, a founder of a veterans’ peer support group called Brave and Broken, was released from the Canadian Forces in 2013. He was diagnosed with PTSD after serving in Afghanistan.
In the years since, MacKenzie was diagnosed with a number of other conditions related to his PTSD, such as insomnia and bruxism. The process of applying for coverage for costs associated with each of these conditions has compounded the waiting period for benefits he is entitled to.
"The trouble is, it isn't only how long it takes,” MacKenzie said. “It's that everything takes just as long. And when you apply for one thing, you're not necessarily going
to apply for everything (all at once).”
MacKenzie has received decisions on most of his conditions but is still waiting on a decision related to bruxism, a condition involving the unconscious grinding of teeth.
He says veterans who have recently left the military are often not prepared for the costs of expensive medical treatments or the lengthy delays involved in obtaining the benefits.
“Lots of guys have to sell vehicles and mortgage their homes while they’re waiting for their entitlements to kick in,” MacKenzie said.
Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) has faced complaints for years related to backlogs in the application process for disability benefits.
The department’s service standard is to have 80 per cent of decisions made on applications within 16 weeks of applications. But a 2018 report from the Veterans Ombudsman found that 70 per cent of applications from serving Canadian Forces members and veterans took longer than 16 weeks.
In June, VAC announced plans to hire around 350 new temporary staff to help clear the backlog for disability benefits applications. More than 100 of these positions will be based in P.E.I. where Veterans Affairs Canada is headquartered.
These temporary hires are on top of 160 temporary positions previously hired, who will be maintained until 2022.
There are 49,216 disability benefit applications waiting in the queue.
But a report released in September by the Parliamentary Budget Officer suggested VAC will miss its target of reducing the backlog of applications to 5,000 by March of 2022.
The PBO report said the additional staffing announced in June would need to be retained permanently to keep the backlog from expanding. The report estimated the backlog could be cleared by 2023 if the additional staffing was hired permanently and that it would cost government $105 million.
This is the same dollar figure as the surplus the federal department ran in its 2018⁄ 19 budget.
But a top civil servant with the department says there are no plans to make the 350 temporary hires permanent employees.
Steven Harris, assistant deputy minister for service delivery with VAC, said the new employees will be under contract until March of 2022.
He also said he did not fully agree with the methodology of the PBO in its report.
“I think we have a bit of a different way of looking at what the calculation is in terms of the productivity,” Harris said.
Harris said the PBO report did not take into account efforts the federal department is taking to increase efficiency and to streamline the application process.
But Harris agreed there is also a need to increase staffing.
“What we have to do is make sure that we do this and do it right,” Veterans Affairs Minister Lawrence MacAulay said in an interview.
“It’s not fair for veterans and we want to make sure that they have what they deserve as quickly as we possibly can.”
MacAulay added that the March 2022 goal is considered a “minimum projection” for clearing the backlog.
“There will likely always be some kind of a backlog. But much, much smaller and much, much shorter waiting periods,” MacAulay said.
Virginia Vaillancourt, president of the Union of Veterans’ Affairs Employees, said the additional staffing announced in June amounted to “Band-Aid fixes”.
The union is calling for VAC to make the additional staff permanent.
“Our veterans are not temporary, and the government needs to stop putting temporary measures to fix systemic problems,” Vaillancourt told The Guardian.
Vaillancourt said other divisions within VAC will need additional staffing as well for other programs after these veterans apply for other supports.
“Those veterans are going to be moving on to other services and benefits. And there’s backlogs and delays in those areas as well,” Vaillancourt said.
“We need to remember that every single day there are Canadians across the country signing up to join the military. A majority, if not all at some point, will be applying for a Veterans Affairs Canada pension.”
MacAulay suggested some of the new staff might become permanent.
“If this becomes part of making sure that the system works well, I’m sure there will be changes,” MacAulay said.
MacKenzie acknowledged VAC has made improvements, such as streamlining the early stages for the application process for mental health conditions.
But he agreed that clearing the disability benefit backlog will not solve all the underlying problems.