Chapter 4: Program Administration

Information

Services

My Service Canada Account

My Service Canada Account (MSCA) is an online service that Canadians can access through Canada.ca. This allows Canadians to interact with Service Canada from anywhere there is internet access.

MSCA has features and functionalities that enable EI claimants to take advantage of self-serve options. 24 hours a day, 7days a week, claimants can:

• manage their accounts
• check the status of their applications and transactions
• receive information from Service Canada on changes to their account

As a result, the MSCA portal contributes to more accessible, accurate and timely services for Canadians.

Each month, approximately 400,000 users log into MSCA to access EI services such as:

• viewing application status, payment information, current and past claims
• signing up for email notifications (Alert Me)
• viewing and printing tax slips (T4E)
• viewing Records of Employment (ROEs) employers have submitted electronically
• signing up for direct deposit
• viewing and changing personal information (mailing address, direct deposit and/or telephone number)
• registering for EI benefits for self-employed or cancel current agreement
• visiting the Canada Revenue Agency portal (My Account for Individuals) within the same secure session

The EI services on MSCA are promoted through Canada.ca, on AppliWeb and in communications sent to claimants. In FY1819, the vast majority of EI claimants (79%) said they registered for MSCA. An average of 38% of EI claimants used MSCA, an increase of 2.8% compared to FY1718. EI claimants primarily used MSCA to view their payment information (58%), view their last claim status (52%) and access their Record of Employment (31%). The Department is looking at ways to improve the promotion of MSCA.

From the Client Experience Survey, EI claimants generally rated MSCA well:

• three-quarters of respondants (76%) found it simple and easy to use
• more than 8 out of 10 (82%) users used the MSCA to check the status of their application
• two-thirds of the users (65%) received the information they needed from MSCA without having to call a specialized call centre for more information

During FY1819, 7,951 surveyed MSCA users indicated they had attempted an EI-related task. Overall, 76% of respondents indicated being able to complete their task during the session.

Service Canada continues to build upon clients' feedback to improve the overall client experience for conducting on-line transactions.

The following chart indicates the number of EI claimants who accessed the MSCA (in percentage) for the period between FY1314 and FY1819.

Chart 2 – Text version

Region	FY1314	FY1415	FY1516	FY1617	FY1718	FY1819
Atlantic	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Quebec	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Ontario	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Western	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
National	27.8%	31.4%	36.2%	36.8%	35.2%	38.0%

• Source: My Service Canada Account administrative data.

Highlights

Between April 2018 and March 2019:

• 1 800 O-Canada agents answered approximately 1.6 million calls, including 382,818 calls for EI
• EI call centre agents answered over 4.6 million calls
• Employer Contact Centre agents answered 411,666 calls

1 800 O-Canada

1 800 O-Canada supports Government of Canada communication activities, both in regular times and in crises. It often serves as the first point of contact for callers regarding Government of Canada programs and services, including Employment Insurance.

The 1 800 O-Canada line is available Monday to Friday in more than 60 countries, with service in both official languages. In Canada, the service is available from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. in each time zone. Callers outside of Canada can reach someone from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Canadians can expect to be served within 18 seconds (or within 3 rings), 80% of the time. During FY1819, 1 800 O-Canada answered 78% of calls within 18 seconds. 1.58 million individuals called 1 800 O-Canada agents. This is a 4.8% decrease compared to the previous reporting year. 1 800 O-Canada agents answered 2.03 million enquiries (more than one enquiry may be asked per call). This included 401,922 EI specific enquiries, an increase of 4.5% from the previous year.

1 800 O-Canada can provide general information on EI programs and how to access them, including:

• an overview of the benefits and eligibility criteria
• application process and forms
• general information on payment dates (not applicable for the EI benefits as payment information is case specific)
• direct deposit information
• referral of contacts to specific programs, including the pertinent EI web pages and links necessary to complete their service delivery journey

1 800 O-Canada agents advise clients with case-specific enquiries to use MSCA or to contact the EI specialized call centre or Employer Contact Centre as required.

Most EI-related enquiries require a referral to the EI specialized call centres or to the program’s website for more detailed, complex and client-specific information. During this reporting period, 79% of clients asking EI-related questions were referred to the program.

Employment Insurance specialized call centres

Clients sometimes have questions or require action that cannot be resolved by the general information on the website or by calling 1 800 O-Canada. The EI specialized call centres are available to respond to these case-specific enquiries. This section describes the service delivered by these specialized call centres.

The EI specialized call centre network is made up of 10 call centres. It is the main contact point for EI clients. Calls are distributed across the network based on availability of resources, regardless of from where in the country they are coming. Calls are triaged depending on the issue and level of complexity of the enquiry.

EI specialized call centres agents respond to enquiries about the application process for EI, eligibility for EI benefits, and enquiries specific to claimants’ EI files. They resolve enquiries by:

• providing claim-specific information
• performing transactions (for example, changing an address or direct deposit information)
• adjudicating a wide variety of contentious and non-contentious issues (such as, claim calculation, reason for separation)

Call centres are equipped with an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system. The IVR allows clients to self-serve for the majority of enquiries. These include application status, payment details and completion of bi-weekly declarations. The total EI call volume reached almost 24.7 million calls in FY1819, a reduction of approximately 0.8 million calls from the previous year. Almost 64% of the calls for the current reporting year (15.9 million) were resolved in the IVR without the need to speak to an agent. This is relatively consistent with the previous year (65%).

Specialized agents are available to help and guide clients through issues that clients do not resolve by self-service. For this reporting year, the top 5 main reasons clients requested agent assisted services were:

1. enquiries regarding the status of a claim/decision (includes claims/decisions within or not the timeframes, as well as Initial, revised, renewals)
2. enquiries about entitlement conditions for EI benefits, unrelated to a claim
3. claimants declaring a condition that affects their availability
4. guidance on how to file their application
5. claimants requesting the status of their payment

Recent investments from Budgets 2016 and 2018 have increased the number of agents available to answer clients’ calls by more than 40%, compared to pre-Budget 2016.

Increased call centre staffing has in turn increased the volume of calls being answered. This year, call centre agents answered 40,552 more calls than the previous year, for a total of 4.6 million calls. This is 1.2 million more calls than were answered in FY1516. Thus, many more Canadians are able access the information and support they need, when compared to 3 years ago.

Agent accessibility is an important performance indicator for call centres. It represents the percentage of call attempts^{Footnote 1} that are successfully placed in queue to wait to speak to an agent. Based on the investment of Budget 2018, EI call centres established a target to achieve 70% accessibility for FY1819. While this target was not achieved, clients did experience a significant improvement in their ability to access the call centre when compared to the previous year. Agent accessibility increased to 65.5% this reporting year, compared to 61.4% in FY1718. Of note, the EI call centre Interactive Voice Response (IVR) was nearly 100% accessible, consistent with recent years.

While more clients were able to connect to EI call centre agents, the current telephone system cannot be modified to accommodate the total volume of calls from clients wishing to speak to agents during peak times. It limits the number of clients that can access the queue to wait to speak to an agent. To enable all callers wishing to speak to an agent access to the queue, the aging telephone system must be replaced with a modern telephone system. Work has already begun to replace the call centre platform. This is anticipated to be implemented in FY1920 and will resolve the technological limitations^{Footnote 2}. Additionally, in consideration of its funding level, EI call centres may sometimes be required to limit access to an agent to avoid excessive wait times or possible end-of-day disconnections.

In FY1819, more clients were able to reach a call centre agent, continuing the trend from previous years: the number of calls limited from accessing an agent was reduced by 0.4 million from the previous year, to a total of 3.2 million.

While clients were better able to access an EI call centre agent, they did have to wait an average of 1.3 minutes longer for the call to be answered. It is important to note that even accounting for the increased wait time this year, clients on average waited 6 minutes less to speak to an agent than they did in FY1516. This means that they are waiting almost half as long to speak to an agent as they did before the Budget investments.

The published service level target for the EI specialized call centres is to answer 80% of calls within 10 minutes (once a caller is in the queue to speak to an agent). However, the Budget 2018 commitment was to improve service level to 70% of calls answered in 10 minutes. While this target was not achieved, EI call centres did continue to exceed the previous year’s target (65%) by achieving a 67% service level.

There was an increase in the rate of callers who chose to hang-up, rather than wait to speak to an agent (see Table 1). More than 90% of these callers chose to hang-up before Service Canada’s published service level target of 10 minutes had passed.

• Source: Employment and Social Development Canada.

The migration to a modernized telephone system is described in the Call Centre Improvement Strategy section (see Section 4.5.2). Once this migration is complete, Service Canada will review and adjust how it manages incoming calls to improve access to call centre services.

Once a client is connected to a call centre agent, the majority of clients' telephone enquiries are resolved at the call centre. Requests that are not well suited to be handled efficiently within a call centre environment are sent to the processing area for appropriate follow-up.

Specialized call centres track the volume of calls resolved at first point of contact. The call is considered resolved if the agent was able to address the client’s enquiry during the telephone interaction. Of note, it does not measure client satisfaction and is an internal organizational performance indicator. During this reporting year, the percentage of calls that were resolved by a call centre agent with no additional follow-up required increased by 0.8% to 81.5%.

EI call centres continue to demonstrate improved accessibility. This helps ensure that Canadians calling for assistance are able to more easily access and get assistance in a timely manner. Thus, it aids in ensuring they receive the benefits to which they are entitled.

Employer Contact Centre

Another critical component of the specialized call centre network is the Employer Contact Centre (ECC). Launched in June 2011, the ECC provides enhanced services to employers through an accessible, national, single point of contact. The ECC network consists of 3 call centres.

Employers contact the ECC to obtain information and assistance on a variety of service offerings. In FY1819, the following are the top 5 reasons employers called the ECC to speak to an agent for assistance:

1. to order paper ROE forms
2. to enquire about ROE Web registration and login
3. to enquire about the status of an application for the Temporary Foreign Worker Program
4. to receive guidance about block specific information on ROEs
5. to receive guidance on how and when to issue an ROE

The total number of calls made by clients to the ECC in FY1819 was 587,608 calls. This is an increase from 559,079 calls the previous year. This volume includes:

• calls answered by ECC agents
• calls for which the client needs were resolved by the self-serve option
• calls for which the caller chose to abandon while waiting to speak to an agent
• calls limited from accessing an agent

ECC agents answered 411,666 calls in FY1819, compared with 479,070 calls in FY1718.

On October 29, 2018, some informational self-serve options were introduced with the successful migration to a new call centre platform (please see Section 4.5.2). This was a key driver in reducing the calls answered by an agent.

On implementing the new platform, the ECC introduced an IVR system that allows clients to identify if they called the correct service. In FY1819, the percentage of the ECC’s total call volume that agents had to refer to other programs or Departments decreased significantly to 11.4% due to the addition of the IVR. This is down from 16.1% the previous year.

In the current reporting year, 93.8% of clients accessed an agent, 3.1% more than the previous year. Calls for which a client could not access an agent decreased to 30,583. This is a reduction of over 21,430 calls from the previous year. Of note, following the implementation of the new technology platform, the ECC has been able to achieve 100% agent accessibility.

The platform’s ability to allow more callers to speak to an agent increased the length of time it took to speak to an agent by just under 3 minutes. The ECC has the same service level target as the EI specialized call centres, which is to answer 80% of calls within 10 minutes. The ECC significantly exceeded its target by answering 86.8% of calls within 10 minutes, even with a reduction of 9.9% from the previous year. The number of clients who chose to hang up also increased to 51,747. This is an increase of 23,751 calls from the previous year.

Quality of call centre service delivery

Specialized EI and ECC call centres are committed to ensuring that clients receive consistent high quality service. Agents are supported in delivering on this commitment from the time they are hired, beginning with an extensive training program.

The initial training for call centre agents varies by program. EI call centre agents receive 10 weeks of onboarding training, whereas ECC agents receive a minimum of 7 weeks. The training takes various forms, including computer-based learning, classroom instruction, practical exercises, and reading materials. The training is followed by a post-training monitoring program to ensure that agents are supported as they begin to answer calls. Even once agents begin to work more independently, ongoing support is available through a dedicated agent assist telephone line. With this telephone line, agents can obtain advice and guidance from experts.

Call centre agents receive additional training when changes to programs or systems are introduced. They also have weekly time scheduled to review procedures and new information that doesn’t require formal training. This allows them to keep their skills and knowledge current. Call centre agents also have regular team meetings where technical information and strategies for handling calls can be discussed.

Beyond supporting agents through training, ESDC ensures the delivery of high quality service to clients through its National Quality and Coaching Program for Call Centres.

Through this program, agent calls are monitored on an ongoing basis and regular feedback is provided to ensure that agents provide accurate and complete information. Feedback may include coaching and the development of training plans tailored to individual needs. Additional monitoring can then be done as part of these plans to ensure continued performance improvements. National sessions are held on a regular basis to ensure that monitoring criteria are being applied the same way across all call centres.

Calls to the specialized call centres are evaluated in terms of specific elements of the call. These elements include the greeting, the authentication of the client, the resolution of the client's need, and the closing. Each element is categorized as meeting, partially meeting, or not meeting quality expectations. Of note, when an element is categorized as partially meeting expectations, the agent has addressed the fundamental criteria associated with that indicator, and only a need for minor improvement has been identified.

For FY1819, 84.4% of the reviewed EI calls had an overall call score of meeting or partially meeting expectations. For the specific element "Provides Accurate and Complete Information" which is a key indicator of the result achieved for the client, 87.9% of reviewed EI calls met or partially met quality expectations.

For the ECC, 85.6% of calls monitored had an overall call score that was categorized as meeting or partially meeting expectations. 92.1% of reviewed ECC calls met or partially met quality expectations for "Provides Accurate and Complete Information".

This National Quality and Coaching Program complements the Processing Accuracy Review, which assesses the accuracy of transaction processing (see Section 4.6.2). In FY1819, EI call centre agents had a processing accuracy rate of 92.4%, well surpassing the target of 80%.

Clients may also provide comments about the service received through the specialized call centre network. Each call centre agent has an ID number assigned to them. Clients can request this number during any call, and reference it when providing feedback.

Points of service

As of March 31, 2019, Canadians were able to access services and information through the service delivery network at 611 in-person points of service across the country:

• 317 Service Canada Centres (SCC)
• 247 scheduled outreach (SO) sites
• 15 Service Delivery Partner (SDP) sites
• 32 Service Canada Centre- Passport services sites

SCCs are open up to 5 days a week, managed and staffed by Service Canada employees, and offer general information and transactional services. SCCs may be stand-alone or co-located with other organizations.

SO sites are points of service located outside an SCC but offer similar services. Service Canada staff travel to a pre-determined location, typically in rural or remote areas, that are otherwise underserved.

SDP sites are managed and staffed by a partner at the provincial and/or territorial level. They offer general information and referral services for federal government programs and services on behalf of Service Canada.

Service Canada employees in SCCs and SOs help claimants submit applications and complete them online. They also perform other support functions for the EI program, such as authenticating identity, validating supporting documents, and verifying information for completeness. SCCs leverage existing video chat capabilities in select sites to enhance the service experience of Canadians. This allows high volume centres to reduce client wait times by directing them to the next available “virtual agent” in small designated centres that have the capacity to help with select services. Video chat service delivery is increasingly becoming an accepted mode of meeting clients’ service needs.

In addition, since the fall of 2017, Citizen Service Officers (CSOs) in SCCs have been completing 2 EI transactions that were previously forwarded to EI processing centres or to call centres for action. One of these transactions is to extend EI claimants’ sickness benefits when they present a supporting medical certificate from a medical professional. In FY1819, CSOs completed over 36,000 of these transactions, resolving a claimant’s issue at the first point of contact. In addition, in FY1819, CSOs completed over 1,000 EI tax reduction rate updates at SCCs, allowing an immediate update to a claimant’s file.

Service Canada provides services to EI clients in English and French, as per the Official Languages Act. In addition, Telephone Interpretation Services in 81 languages are available in all SCCs and outreach locations.
This fiscal year, the Client Experience Survey indicated that 22% of claimants who applied for EI, went to a Service Canada Centre directly and without first trying to complete the application online (outside of the SCC ).

The main reasons EI claimants chose to apply in person instead of on-line, are because they felt confident that their applications were being handled properly (30%) and that they could get assistance if required, making the process easier (27%).

In FY1819, Service Canada in-person points of service staff completed over 2.4 million service requests related to EI. This represents nearly 31% of all service requests handled. In the SCCs, close to 1.4 million activities related to EI were recorded in the self-help zones on the Citizen Access Workstation Services, (CAWS)^{Footnote 3} representing more than 31% of all CAWS activities.

The breakdown of the types of In-Person services provided on the EI Program is as follows:

• follow-up assistance: 49.4%
• general information: 47.8%
• assistance with applications: 2.6%
• processing support: 0.1%

Community Outreach and Liaison Service (COLS)

Community Outreach and Liaison Service (COLS) is the delivery of outreach services on behalf of Service Canada. The COLS program provides expanded reach and scope to support access to programs, services and benefits, with a focus on populations facing heightened barriers.

COLS focuses on building relationships with communities, organizations and partners to develop networks with Service Canada. The intent is to bring those services to clients who otherwise may not have access.

COLS increases awareness and uptake of Service Canada programs and service offerings by providing:

• EI information at mass layoff sites
• EI application assistance
• information for employers
• Social Insurance Number clinics to help youth apply for their first job
• other Government of Canada programs and services for citizens and community organizations

COLS is a solution from the Department’s service transformation initiatives (see Section 4.5.1). It provides Service Canada outreach staff with the tools they need in the field to offer full service to clients in remote communities across the country. When offering services outside of SCCs, staff have access to an online COLS toolkit. The toolkit contains the support material necessary to provide service in an outreach environment, including forms, how-to guides, handouts, presentations, and tracking tools.

In times of economic uncertainty (for example, trade disputes), Service Canada may adapt processes and create partnerships with other service providers to meet clients’ needs more effectively. Service Canada makes proactive calls to employers at risk of conducting a layoff to promote other options to mitigate the layoff, if possible. These options include the Work-Sharing or the Work-Force Reduction program. Information sessions for Work-Sharing are conducted for both workers and employers.

EI information sessions are delivered on-site by COLS staff when the Department receives news of a mass layoff.

Staff work with the employer to organize information sessions for employees, in partnership with provincial and territorial governments. The purpose of providing these sessions jointly is to help reduce the stress and worry of being faced with a job loss. They provide participants with important information on:

• when, how and why they should apply for EI
• how benefits can affect other monies received as a result of termination (in other words, severance, pay in lieu of notice)
• other federal programs and services such as the Canada Pension Plan, Old Age Security, the Job Bank, and My Service Canada Account

The provincial or territorial partner provides information on programs and services available to help them find suitable employment. This includes information on re-training, resume writing, job search techniques, and interview skills.

During FY1819, the following EI related information sessions were delivered:

• 364 sessions to citizens facing layoffs, with a total of 7,202 participants
• 70 sessions to workers on work sharing, with a total of 1,748 participants
• 157 sessions to employers, with 278 companies and organizations participating

The number of sessions delivered was 33% lower in this reporting period than the previous fiscal year. These sessions are generally linked to the health of the economy. As such, the decreased number can in some part be attributable to the unemployment rate being at historic lows in FY1819.

Chart 3 – Text version

Region	FY1314	FY1415	FY1516	FY1617	FY1718	FY1819
Atlantic	114	119	133	115	106	115
Quebec	425	586	395	277	274	197
Ontario	1,029	632	470	381	440	228
Western	202	282	177	152	217	156

• Source: Mobile Outreach Tracking Tool (MOTT) Administrative Data.

Record of Employment

The ROE is a paper or electronic form issued by an employer to provide information about a claimant’s work history. Service Canada uses the ROE to determine if a claimant is eligible to receive EI benefits, the benefit rate and the claim duration. Over 10.6 million ROEs were issued in FY1819.

ESDC actively encourages employers to use electronic ROEs (eROEs) to save time, reduce paper burden and improve the accuracy of information. eROEs are submitted electronically to Service Canada and are instantly available to EI systems. The use of eROEs reduces the time required for the Department to obtain information, resulting in quicker claims processing.

In November 2018, the ROE Web Application was updated to include fishing eROEs. Before this update, employers from the fishing industry could only issue paper ROEs.

The Department continues to reach out to employers identified as large paper ROE users, and to register employers for eROE when they call to order paper ROE forms. These efforts resulted in a 1.9 % increase in eROE submissions this year, from 90.4% (FY1718) to 92.3% (FY1819).

Claim volumes

In FY1819, 2,802,814 initial and renewal claims were received. In this reporting period, there was a 0.6% increase (15,985 claims) in claim intake compared to FY1718. The majority of this increase (8,336 claims) was in Western Canada and the Territories.

Speed of payment

Speed of Payment is one of 4 EI service standards. It refers to how fast a payment or a non-payment notification is issued to an EI claimant.

Service Canada’s target for this service standard is to finalize 80% of claims within 28 days from the date on which the EI application is received. In FY1819, Service Canada met this standard for 80.0% of claims. In FY1819, as in FY1718, the average time for eligible claimants to receive a first payment was within 19 days of filing.

ESDC makes every effort to meet this service standard for each EI claim. However, there will always be situations in which this is not possible. For example, economic factors or events such as mass layoffs and natural disasters may influence the number of claims received and the availability of resources, affecting EI processing times.

In addition, while the majority of EI claims are now processed using partial or full automation, some applications still require manual intervention from agents. This can create delays in the delivery of EI benefits.

Issues requiring manual intervention include:

• adjudicating issues that require judgement
• obtaining missing Records of Employment (ROEs)
• clarifying information with claimants
• fact-finding with employer

SST – General Division, Employment Insurance section

A client has 30 calendar days to appeal to the General Division – EI a reconsideration decision made by the CEIC.

On behalf of the CEIC, Service Canada is responsible for providing the General Division-EI with the reconsideration file. The reconsideration file includes all relevant documents used in making and reviewing the initial decision. When requested, CEIC will also answer any questions or requests for additional information from the SST member and may participate in appeal hearings.

Service standards and performance

CEIC, through Service Canada, must provide the General Division-EI with all relevant documents and its representations on the issue under appeal within 7 days from the time it is notified of an appeal, according to the legislation. For this reporting period, 87% of reconsideration files were sent to the General Division-EI within the 7 days, as opposed to 99% in the previous fiscal year. The drop is likely due to one large group appeal that included 400 appeals. Although the SST granted Service Canada an extension to submit documents, the reporting system does not take approved extensions into consideration.

For the purposes of performance measurement, the SST manages and tracks EI appeals in 2 categories:

• regular appeals
• group appeals

A group appeal includes more than one claimant appealing decisions made in the same or a similar matter. For example, when multiple claimants of the same employer lose their jobs under similar circumstances and do not agree with the reconsideration decision, the SST considers the appeals together. Group appeals tend to be more complex and require more time to complete.

The SST has a service standard for cases referred to the General Division – EI: a final decision will be issued within 90 days of parties being ready for a hearing, 85% of the time. This service standard applies to regular (non-group) appeal cases.

At the beginning of FY1819, the service standard was met 13% of the time. However, because of various measures put into place, by the end of FY1819, the SST met that standard 83% of the time. The SST focused on improving how it processes appeals, and the result has been that, overall, it is working faster and it takes less time to handle appeals. In March 2019, it was taking 56 days to conclude a regular EI appeal from an average of 142 days for the entire FY1819, also down from 225 days for FY1718.

In addition, the number of cases that are waiting to be heard has gone down.

• Source: EI administrative data.

The SST has published a progress report on its performance in FY1819 titled “Putting Clients First”. Please visit the 2019 Progress report for more statistics pertaining to the Tribunal’s performance and service standard.

Social Security Tribunal review

In FY1718, the SST underwent a review ordered by the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development. The review was in response to a series of reports that found that the appeals process took too long, particularly for EI claimants. The review examined the overall recourse process between 2013 and 2016 to assess its efficiency, fairness and transparency and to identify possible improvements.

The final Report of the SST Review^{Footnote 4}, released in January 2018, made several recommendations that prompted the Government to develop a comprehensive action plan that focused on improvements that are important to Canadians and stakeholders: providing a recourse process that is client-centric, faster and simpler.

Improvements made since the review

In FY1819, The SST made a series of operational improvements to make it easier for appellants to prepare their cases with confidence, participate meaningfully in hearings, and better understand their decisions. These include:

• simplifying the criteria to get an appeal started
• simplifying forms
• giving appellants their choice of form of their hearing
• introducing a virtual videoconferencing option
• publishing more General Division-EI decisions
• compiling and publishing on the web site a directory of organisations that can help appellants for free
• launching the review of all written material (letters, forms and web content) in plain language

For its part, ESDC adjusted the recruitment process for tribunal members by putting more emphasis on client-orientation.

All of these improvements have made the process faster for General Division-EI (excluding groups) from 227 days (at the time of the review) to 56 days (in March 2019). In addition, the number of cases that are waiting to be heard has gone down, from 2,304 at April 1, 2018, to 1,322 at March 31, 2019.

Chart 6 – Text version

Fiscal year	General Division-EI	Appeal Division-EI
FY1516	154	367
FY1617	183	224
FY1718	225	186
FY1819	142	103

• Source: EI administrative data.

In March 2019, the Budget announcement confirmed an investment of $253.8 million over 5 years starting in FY1920, with $56.7 million per year ongoing to make the EI, CPP and OAS recourse process easier to navigate and more responsive to Canadians. When it comes to EI, this will involve the replacement of the SST General Division by a new board of appeal^{Footnote 5} that will be made up of members of the community (including employer and labour representatives). This change is expected to take place as of April 1st 2021.

Over the course of the next several years, ESDC and the SST will continue to improve the recourse processes.

The issues most frequently challenged in an appeal to the General Division-EI remain constant from year to year (see Chart 7).

Chart 7 – Text version

FY/Issue	Voluntary leaving	Labour dispute*	Misconduct	Benefit period not established	Earnings	Availability for work	Other
FY1314	20%	0%	13%	7%	20%	6%	38%
FY1415	18%	11%	11%	8%	7%	8%	37%
FY1516	19%	11%	11%	8%	7%	8%	36%
FY1617	27%	0%	13%	8%	12%	6%	34%
FY1718	28%	0%	12%	7%	10%	8%	35%
FY1819	28%	0%	9%	6%	15%	9%	32%

• Source: EI administrative data.
• *The chart illustrates the issue of Labour Dispute only in FY1415 and FY1516. In later years, Labour Dispute was no longer among the issues most frequently appealed to the SST – General Division - EI.

Client representation at the SST

At each level of appeal, appellants can choose to either represent themselves or have a representative (formal or informal, such as a friend or family member) before the Tribunal to assist them during the appeal process.

Charts 8 and 9 below include the percentage of clients that had representation before the SST at the General Division and the Appeal Division respectively. From year to year, the percentage of represented clients remains relatively the same if group appeals are excluded.

Charts 10 through 13 indicate that the percentage of allowed appeals based on clients with or without representation for the General Division – EI and the Appeal Division.

Note on charts: Percentage allowed rate is based on merit decisions only. During FY1314, the volume of SST merit decisions for new appeals was minimal due to the start-up of the organization and work being done on legacy appeals. As a result, the allowed rates are extremely close or identical in the early years of operation.

Chart 8 – Text version

General Division-EI	Appeals including groups	Appeals excluding groups
FY1314	30%	22%
FY1415	35%	24%
FY1516	27%	25%
FY1617	26%	22%
FY1718	25%	21%
FY1819	31%	20%

• Source: EI administrative data.

Chart 9 – Text version

General Division-EI	Appeals including groups	Appeals excluding groups
FY1314	65%	25%
FY1415	46%	31%
FY1516	67%	30%
FY1617	37%	35%
FY1718	55%	32%
FY1819	34%	27%

• Source: EI administrative data.

Chart 10 – Text version

General Division-EI	Allowed rate including groups	Allowed rate excluding groups
FY1314	40%	40%
FY1415	49%	41%
FY1516	38%	44%
FY1617	53%	47%
FY1718	37%	41%
FY1819	47%	47%

• Source: EI administrative data.

Chart 11 – Text version

General Division-EI	Allowed rate including groups	Allowed rate excluding groups
FY1314	20%	20%
FY1415	21%	22%
FY1516	28%	24%
FY1617	21%	20%
FY1718	21%	21%
FY1819	23%	24%

• Source: EI administrative data.

Chart 12 – Text version

Appeal Division-EI	Allowed rate including groups	Allowed rate excluding groups
FY1314	100%	100%
FY1415	100%	100%
FY1516	66%	72%
FY1617	10%	72%
FY1718	7%	48%
FY1819	34%	40%

• Source: EI administrative data.

Chart 13 – Text version

Appeal Division-EI	Allowed rate including groups	Allowed rate excluding groups
FY1415	91%	93%
FY1516	48%	58%
FY1617	19%	58%
FY1718	35%	41%
FY1819	41%	44%

• Source: EI administrative data.

Outcomes at the General Division - EI

An appeal to the General Division may be concluded by a withdrawal or a written decision.

Chart 14 below shows the number of SST concluded appeals by possible outcomes:

• concessions – Service Canada recommends that the Tribunal allows the appeal
• late appeals denied – the Tribunal refuses the appeal filed beyond the 30-day deadline
• summary dismissals – the Tribunal decides, based on the information in the file, that the appeal has no reasonable chance of success
• withdrawn/Other – client either withdraws or abandons the appeal
• allowed – decision is in the client’s favour
• denied – decision favourable to the Commission / not in the client’s favour

Chart 14 – Text version

Result	Number	Percentage
Concessions	162	3%
Summary dismissals	96	2%
Dismissed	13	0%
Allowed	1,243	25%
Withdrawn/other	284	6%
Late appeals denied	74	1%
Favorable to the Commission	3,146	63%
Total	5,018	n/a

• Source: EI administrative data.

SST – Appeal Division

When a party to the appeal—the claimant, the employer or the CEIC—disagrees with the decision made by the General Division - EI, it may dispute this decision before the SST’s Appeal Division.

With the exception of appeals summarily dismissed by the General Division, the first step at the Appeal Division is to file an application for leave to appeal. The Appeal Division will grant leave, or permission, to appeal if there is an arguable case. The grounds of appeal to the Appeal Division are limited to certain errors of fact, law, jurisdiction and natural justice

Service standards and performance

The Appeal Division committed to the following Service Standards for regular appeals:

• decisions on leave to appeal will be made within 60 days, 85% of the time
• final decisions will be made within 210 days of the leave to appeal, 85% of the time

The service standards were exceeded in FY1819, with 86% of leave to appeal decisions issued within 60 days and 88% of final decisions issued within 210 days of leave granted. On average in FY1819, it took 27 days from application to a leave to appeal decision and 144 days (or approximately 5 months) from the date the leave to appeal was granted to a final decision.

At the end of FY1819, the Appeal Division’s inventory included 4 group appeals (167 appellants) and 147 regular appeals.

• Source: EI administrative data.

Additional information on the Social Security Tribunal

For more information on the SST, please visit the Social Security Tribunal of Canada.

For Tribunal decisions, visit Tribunal and court decisions or the Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLII).

For the Tribunal’s Progress Report – Putting Clients First, visit the 2019 Progress report.

Claimant information sessions

In addition to administrative reviews and investigations, integrity activities also include outreach and prevention activities, such as Claimant Information Sessions. The purpose of these sessions is 2 fold:

1. to provide claimants with information on programs and services available to help them find suitable employment, and
2. to inform them about their rights and obligations regarding the EI program requirements and the consequences of abusing the system (namely, penalties or prosecutions)

The Department aims to conduct 10,000 Claimant Information Sessions per year. Over 102,000 EI claimants attended close to 10,800 sessions delivered by ESDC in FY1819. Both the number of claimants and sessions held declined by 7.25% and 1.88% respectively from the previous year. However the Department continued to exceed its objective. Claimants are identified and directed to a session based on the local job demand in their previous occupation and the availability of work.

• Source: Employment and Social Development Canada.

Attendance at these sessions is mandatory; however, claimants have an opportunity to reschedule if needed. Should claimants not attend or fail to provide evidence of an active job search, their EI benefits could be suspended.

Integrity quality initiatives

The Department has a National Quality Management Program in place to ensure a high level of quality and consistency across investigative activities. This includes conducting in-depth quality monitoring activities to measure work performance as it relates to the handling of investigations. The results from these investigations determine the type of corrective measure to be implemented, which involves: amending the training material, national guidance, policy and system enhancements. Quality initiatives and results are tracked and reported both nationally and across each region and are used to indicate trends, patterns of errors and to identify best practices. For FY1819, the average quality rate for EI investigations was 87.17%, surpassing the national quality objective of 85%.

Identity management

The accuracy of the Social Insurance Registry (SIR) is fundamental to all programs and services that use the Social Insurance Number (SIN) to identify clients accurately, including the EI program. Online applications to the EI program are in part facilitated by the electronic validation of claimant identities with the SIR in real-time and amount to approximately 8 million validations annually. These efforts ensure not only an efficient application process but also that the individual requesting benefits is the correct SIN holder.

The SIN program maintains accuracy of the SIR through the use of strict identity and quality management practices designed to ensure that claimants applying for a SIN, or updating their SIN records are properly identified and that SIN records are accurate. The SIN program electronically validates the applicant's identity information with the issuing source when performing transactions. When validated, the risk of critical errors when processing SIN transactions is significantly reduced.

Risk management

ESDC uses various risk-based strategies to improve the overall integrity of the EI program so that resources are directed to higher-risk cases. Higher-risk cases have a higher probability of misrepresentation, abuse, payment errors, or fraud. Potential issues flagged in the early stages of the benefit life cycle allow the Department to allocate scarce integrity resources to higher risk cases, which helps to prioritize investigation activities.

Generally, the number of EI administrative reviews and investigations that are conducted annually is in line with the number of cases, which are considered high-risk; however, in any given year, the volume might vary slightly based on the changing nature and significance of identified risks.

ESDC also has a risk analysis function to assess program integrity risks quantitatively and qualitatively and to understand better the root cause of "mispayments". This activity includes developing appropriate mitigation strategies which may involve implementing additional controls where required to address any identified vulnerabilities.