Appeal process for CPP disability benefits is a 'David and Goliath' battle, Sask. advocate says

Federal appeals tribunal has backlog of 7,000 cases

CBC News Posted: Jun 18, 2014 5:30 AM CT Last Updated: Jun 18, 2014 5:30 AM CT

A Saskatchewan woman who helps people apply for benefits under the Canada Pension Plan says the federal government's appeal process is a "David and Goliath" battle.

'The CPP, or the federal government, has all of the resources and the person making the application — who has the disability — has probably minimal.'- Disability claims advocate Allison Schmidt

Allison Schmidt, a Regina-based disability advocate with about 200 clients, is currently working with Suzanne Fincaryk, who has been waiting nearly two years for her appeal to be heard.

"They really make you run through a lot of hoops, which I can understand because they don't want to make it easy for everybody," Fincaryk told CBC News in a recent interview. "But it's ridiculous. It's gone beyond making it difficult."

Fincaryk lives in Preeceville, Sask., having moved there to be closer to family after suffering a serious heart attack, her second in ten years,  that left her with some cognitive impairment. Unable to work, she applied for disability benefits through the Canada Pension Plan.

Allison Schmidt, who provides an advocacy service for disability claims, has about 200 clients. (CBC)

 

When that was refused she appealed, but her case is stalled in federal bureaucracy.

Schmidt says the situation facing Fincaryk, and many other clients, is not fair.

"It's almost like David and Goliath," Schmidt said. "The CPP, or the federal government, has all of the resources and the person making the application — who has the disability — has probably minimal [resources]."
Schmidt says few people have the money to produce medical reports or finance independent assessments to support their claims.

Backlog of 7,000 cases

What's more, according to information Schmidt received by filing an Access to Information request, there is a major backlog facing the Social Security Tribunal, which reviews denied claims.

She learned there are about 7,000 cases waiting to be heard by a tribunal. And, according to Schmidt, the tribunal has only 35 adjudicators assigned to disability files.

No immediate response from Social Security Tribunal

CBC News contacted the tribunal who said they would not be able to respond to an interview request right away.

Schmidt says she has had one client die while waiting on an appeal. Others exhaust all their savings.

"While they're waiting sometimes they have to go on to social services and that is very difficult for them," Schmidt said. "But people can't sustain themselves financially for years at a time. They end up using all their retirement savings or using all their personal savings just to make the bills."
While Fincaryk waits, and hopes, she is getting by with support from her parents and a provincial benefit program.

Schmidt says, in her experience, officials routinely turn down about 60 per cent of cases at every stage — from the initial application through to an appeal before the Social Security Tribunal.

Her advice, for people seeking a disability benefit, is to pay close attention to the initial application to ensure it has all the information the government wants and all the documents needed to support a claim.

source:  http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/appeal-process-for-cpp-disability-benefits-is-a-david-and-goliath-battle-sask-advocate-says-1.2679174

Thousands denied federal disability benefits waiting more than a year for appeals

Thousands of Canadians who have been denied federal disability benefits have been waiting more than a year to have their appeals heard by the federal government’s new Social Security Tribunal, which is clearing just a small fraction of the cases every month.

Allison Schmidt, a Regina-based consultant who helps sick and injured people appeal decisions of the Canada Pension Plan disabilities program, says one of her clients died before her hearing could be scheduled, and many others are declaring bankruptcy.
 
“It’s not a welfare program. These people paid into it,” Ms. Schmidt said of CPP disability benefits. The delays, she said, are a “disgrace.”
The federal Conservative government eliminated last year a board of more than 1,000 part-time referees who heard appeals of employment insurance, CPP and Old Age Security decisions. It was replaced on April 1, 2013, with the Social Security Tribunal, which has fewer than 70 full-time members – 35 of whom have been assigned to the income-security section, which includes CPP and OAS.

The tribunal inherited 7,224 appeals of income-security cases from its predecessor – most of them launched by people who were denied CPP disability benefits. There were also 3,741 new CPP and OAS appeals filed last year. But the tribunal heard just 348 income-security appeals in its first 13 months of operation. So, even though more than 700 cases were settled without a hearing, there are nearly 10,000 still waiting in the queue.

“If they keep going at this rate, and nobody else applies, it’s going to take them nine-and-a-half years to hear all of the current income-security appeals,” said Jinny Sims, NDP critic for employ- ment and social development.

Dominique Forget, the senior director of the tribunal, said adjudicators were hampered last year by a regulation that gave appellants and the government 365 days, starting April 1, 2013, to file documents and give notice that they were ready to proceed . That applied even to appeals that had been launched years earlier, Ms. Forget said.

In the first 12 months, “we didn’t have many cases where the parties told us they were ready to proceed,” she said.

The 365-day deadline on all of the inherited cases has now expired so all of those cases are being handed off to the adjudicators, explained Ms. Forget. She couldn’t say how many cases are being heard every month or predict how fast the tribunal will get through the backlog. But “if we jump in time and we go to April 2015,” she said, “I am sure the picture will look quite different.”

Ms. Schmidt is not optimistic. She said she doesn’t believe 35 people can clear a backlog of nearly 10,000 appeals.

“Some of these files are inches thick,” said Ms. Schmidt. “You’ve got complex medical information to review. Then you’ve got to apply the legislative tenets. Then you’ve got to have a hearing. And then you’ve got to write the decision.”

One of Ms. Schmidt’s clients suffered a stroke several years ago. He also has severe arthritis which makes it impossible to continue working as a welder and is depleting his retirement savings just to survive.

When his claim for CPP disability was rejected, he filed an appeal in July 2012. Ms. Schmidt said she told the tribunal last fall that the man is prepared to proceed with a hearing but has heard nothing.

Rodger Cuzner, the Liberal critic for Employment and Social Development, said the Social Security Tribunal is just “another example of how vulnerable Canadians end up paying for poorly planned and implemented programs. Everyone knew this was going to happen except the government.”

source: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/thousands-awaiting-appeals-before-social-security-tribunal/article19150798/

Freedom Of Information request reveals ……

by Admin2

 

On February 27, 2014 I requested information under the Freedom of Information Act regarding the Social Security Tribunal appeal statistics.

9027 Income Security Appeals are waiting to be heard (these are CPP appeals)

The SST heard 21 CPP appeals in 2013 and 155 appeals in 2014 in the General Division.

The SST heard 38 CPP appeals in 2013 and 40 appeals in 2014 in the Appeals Division.

As of February 2014 a total of 2,802 appeals were received at the Income Security Division of the SST which includes CPP and OAS appeals.

There are 292 Income Security Appeals waiting to be heard at the Appeal Division of the SST.

67 Appeals were heard in person, 82 appeals were by teleconference, 26 were by videoconference, 3 were by way of question and answers.

There were 592 appeals allowed and 134 appeals dismissed at the General Division (interesting because the SST only heard 176 appeals so most of these were CPP driven). http://www.dcac.ca/blog/?page=1

source:  http://www.fairassociation.ca/2014/06/freedom-of-information-request-reveals/