One-third of social security tribunal members have ties to Conservatives

Lee-Anne Goodman The Canadian Press

Published Tuesday, Jan. 06 2015, 3:13 PM EST
Last updated Tuesday, Jan. 06 2015, 3:32 PM EST

A third of the Conservative government’s appointees to its critically backlogged social security tribunal have close ties to the party, despite Employment Minister Jason Kenney’s insistence that he’s avoided patronage appointments.


An analysis obtained by The Canadian Press has found that 32 of 96 tribunal members, including four recent appointees, have either donated to the party, run as Conservative candidates or worked for a Tory candidate.

More Related to this Story

• Harper, PCO approved lengthy hiring process for social security tribunal
  
• Social security tribunal backlog includes terminally ill, others deep in debt
  
• More tribunal members hired for backlog of 11,000 social security appeals
  

Testifying before a parliamentary committee late last year, Kenney suggested the 11,000-case backlog, mostly involving those seeking Canada Pension Plan disability benefits, was partly the result of a “rigorous pre-screening process” for tribunal members that required a 12-month vetting period.


“We have taken the patronage dimension of this out of the system,” Kenney also told the committee.


“There might be a couple of people on there who have supported my party in the past. I know of only one person personally, who I appointed to the board, with whom I had a pre-existing relationship but who is eminently qualified. These are qualified individuals who are not appointed on the basis of partisanship but on the basis of competence.”


In an interview Tuesday, NDP MP Jinny Sims scoffed at Kenney’s remarks.
“These appointments have turned out to be patronage, pure and simple, in direct violation of Jason Kenney’s commitment to Canadians that he wouldn’t turn the tribunal into another trough for partisan appointees,” Sims said.


“Do they really reflect the diversity of those seeking benefits or do they reflect the ideology of the party in power? If they only reflect the ideology, then I would say, ‘Poor Canadians,’ because we have not seen a very kind government towards those who are the most vulnerable.”


According to the analysis, there’s scant evidence any tribunal member has donated to any other party other than the Conservatives. One member donated to the party just three days before his official appointment in March 2013.
Nonetheless, the tribunal members don’t lack qualifications.


One tribunal member in the income-security division, Kelley Joanne Sherwood, is the wife of Kory Teneycke, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s former communications director and now vice-president of Sun News.


She was also an adjudicator on the former Canada Pension Plan review tribunal for several years before her appointment to the tribunal in March 2013. Several other tribunal members were also employed under the old system.


The tribunal, which began operation in April 2013, consists of 74 full-time members and 22 part-timers who hear appeals from Canadians denied employment insurance, old-age security or Canada Pension Plan disability benefits.


It replaced about 1,000 part-time referees on four separate social security panels under the old system.


Thousands of Canadians, some of them seriously ill or injured, are waiting years for appeals due to the growing backlog of cases since the tribunal’s inception.
Kenney told the parliamentary committee that the new tribunal inherited an “unexpected” backlog of 7,000 cases from the old system. He also challenged his critics to pore over the CVs of the tribunal members, whom he described as “phenomenal, first-rate people.”


Kenney spokeswoman Alexandra Fortier defended the tribunal’s hiring record, saying it’s a marked improvement over the former system, which had “no comprehensive selection process whatsoever — no examination process and no panel interviews for the vast majority of members.”
“We changed that,” Fortier said in an email.


“Our government put in place a serious and rigorous selection process based on merit. In fact, the latest selection process saw 739 applicants, of which only 72 applicants passed. The minister appointed from this pool of highly qualified candidates. The majority of the appointees do not have ties to the party.”

Source: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/one-third-of-social-security-tribunal-members-have-ties-to-conservatives/article22315771/

 

Baloney Meter: social security tribunal

Minister of Employment and Social Development Jason Kenney speaks at an event in Ottawa on October 2, 2014. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

— image credit: 

 by  Canadian Press - BC Local News posted Dec 4, 2014 at 6:00 AM— updated Dec 5, 2014 at 5:30 AM

By Lee-Anne Goodman, The Canadian Press

OTTAWA - "I am told that the pension appeals board did not share information on their backlog, their inventory, with (Human Resources Skills Development Canada) at the time that we transitioned to the social security tribunal, so this was an unexpected legacy backlog." — Employment and Social Development Minister Jason Kenney in a parliamentary committee hearing on Nov. 27, 2014.
—
The Conservative government has been under fire in recent weeks for a growing backlog of 11,000 social security cases, most involving ailing or injured Canadians denied Canada Pension Plan disability benefits and waiting for their appeals to be heard.

Those in a holding pattern include terminal cancer patients and Canadians in such dire financial straits that they're contemplating suicide, according to social security tribunal "crisis files" obtained via the Access to Information Act.

Was the government really unaware of the true extent of the existing backlog, even as it set up a new appeals system and made decisions on how to allocate staff and resources to its new tribunal?

Spoiler alert: The Canadian Press Baloney Meter is a dispassionate examination of political statements culminating in a ranking of accuracy on a scale of "no baloney" to "full of baloney" (complete methodology below).
This one earns a rating of "some baloney" — the statement is partly accurate but important details are missing

THE FACTS

The social security tribunal was launched on April 1, 2013.
The goal was to streamline the social security appeals process with 74 full-time members, and to save taxpayers $25 million a year by replacing four separate boards with a single panel.

Those boards employed 1,000 part-time referees to hear appeals from people denied employment insurance, CPP disability and old-age security benefits. Most of the 1,000 referees under the old system were dismissed when the new tribunal was established.

In testimony before various parliamentary committees over the past two years, government officials have said they determined that 74 full-time tribunal members and some part-time staffers could sufficiently replace those 1,000 part-timers after assessing caseloads under the old system.
As far back as 2009-10, there was a 1,000-case backlog of CPP disability cases, according to a report by the office of the commissioner of review tribunals.

And in the annual report of the Canada Pension Plan for the past two years, there's been evidence the backlog has been growing. The review tribunals office received 5,297 CPP disability appeals in 2012-2013, but held just 3,201 hearings.

The numbers were similar in 2011-12.

Some Canadians have waited as long as five years to have their appeals heard.

WHAT THEY SAY

Benoit Long, an assistant deputy minister at Employment and Social Development (formerly HRDC), was asked at a Senate committee hearing last month if the backlog problem existed prior to 2013.

"There would have been backlogs, yes," he said.

But Long added that the initial transfer to the new tribunal of 7,000 cases was "much higher than anticipated."

"Volume started to increase and activities started to decrease given the fact that there was a transition from one tribunal to another," he testified.
"That led to a significant number of cases that were transferred over to the tribunal, much higher than anticipated. That means that, when the tribunal started, it obviously had to start with a very large volume initially while it was still trying to ramp up, get organized and get set up."

Another department official, Eric Giguere, added: "There were backlogs, but not to this extent." Productivity levels were falling in the old system as the transition to the new tribunal approached, he reiterated.

A spokesperson for Kenney, however, said both men were testifying with the benefit of hindsight, insisting the department didn't know about the extent of the backlog when it launched the new tribunal.

David Dewhirst, a retired civil servant who represented the government for years at social security hearings, is skeptical.

"To say they didn't know is so high on the baloney meter that it defies logic," said Dewhirst.

"Everyone knew there were tremendous numbers in the backlog, all departments knew, and this information is filtered up to the minister. Everybody was aware that when 'D-Day' came, there was going to be a significant backlog, especially since everyone knew the number of appeals being heard was slowing down in the final year."

He added that case management was "impeccable" under the old system, and that caseload information was routinely passed along to the department.
And even if officials weren't getting up-to-date caseload information from those in the old system as they set up the new one, he added, "wouldn't a competent government ask those questions?"

THE VERDICT

Kenney may very well have been "dismayed" to learn about the size of the backlog when being briefed about the social security tribunal when he took over the department from Diane Finley in the summer of 2013.

But officials in his own department have testified publicly that a backlog already existed prior to the launch of the tribunal, although they say department officials didn't know how hefty it was. Canada Pension Plan statistics also show a pre-existing backlog of disability appeals.

A longtime government representative at tribunal hearings also says the government was always kept abreast of caseload.

For these reasons, Kenney's statement that the backlog was "unexpected" and that the government wasn't told about the backlogged cases contains "some baloney."

METHODOLOGY

The Baloney Meter is a project of The Canadian Press that examines the level of accuracy in statements made by politicians. Each claim is researched and assigned a rating based on the following scale:

No baloney — the statement is completely accurate

A little baloney — the statement is mostly accurate but more information is required

Some baloney — the statement is partly accurate but important details are missing

A lot of baloney — the statement is mostly inaccurate but contains elements of truth

Full of baloney — the statement is completely inaccurate
———
SOURCES

Testimony to the Standing Senate Committee on National Finance, Wednesday, Nov. 5:
http://www.parl.gc.ca/sencommitteebusiness/Notice.aspx?parl=41&ses=2&comm_id=1013&Language=E&meeting_id=400568
Testimony to the Standing Senate Committee on National Finance, May 17, 2012
http://openparliament.ca/committees/finance/41-1/60/?page=13
David Dewhirst, former Service Canada official employed contractually as a government representative at social security review tribunals for Service Canada
Annual Report of the Canada Pension Plan, 2012-2013 and 2011-2012:
http://www.esdc.gc.ca/en/reports/pension/cpp_reports/2013/cpp_report.page
http://www.esdc.gc.ca/en/reports/pension/cpp_reports/2012/cpp_report.page?#h2.4
Annual Report of the Office of the Commissioner or Review Tribunal, 2008-2009: http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2013/bctr-ocrt/HS55-2009-eng.pdf

Source: http://www.mapleridgenews.com/national/284736831.html

Social security officials idle in tribunal's early months as backlog grew

By: Lee-Anne Goodman, The Canadian Press

Posted: 12/5/2014 2:56 PM | Comments: 0 | Last Modified: 12/5/2014 3:05 PM

OTTAWA - The federal government announced two years ago it was creating a streamlined social security tribunal that would save Canadian taxpayers $25 million a year, but some well-paid new members had nothing to do during its first year of operation.

"The tribunal — the one that was supposed to save money — had 30-40 people making $100,000 a year sitting at home that first year," Philippe Rabot, the commissioner of review tribunals from 2005 to 2010, said in an interview.
"They had no work assigned to them for a year. It wasn't their fault. The department simply wasn't ready on April 1, 2013. They didn't have enough lead time to set up such a big tribunal, and the tribunal wasn't ready to start assigning cases."

Some of the decision-makers who worked in the old system were brought onto the new tribunal by the department that was then known as Human Resources and Social Development. Rabot is familiar with the launch period.
A former tribunal member who left the board confirmed there was little to do in the early days.

A spokesman for the tribunal, however, says the new appointees were being trained or mentored by "more experienced members."
"Furthermore, members worked on becoming more proficient with our new case management system that allowed them to move from paper to electronic files," Laura Revilien said in an email.

Meantime, terminal cancer patients, those suffering debilitating injuries and debt-addled Canadians waited for their appeals to be heard. Some have now waited as long as five years amid a growing backlog of 11,000 social security cases, mostly involving those seeking Canada Pension Plan disability benefits.
One of them only just won his appeal after a four-year battle. The man, who spoke on condition of anonymity, suffered a stroke and was ultimately unable to work due to related health issues.

"My wife and I did manage, and we're not starving by any means, but I've been having to dip into my RRSPs to keep above water and that shouldn't be," said the former construction worker, who fears having his award withheld in retaliation for speaking out.

The man says when he received word that he'd won, the tribunal made reference to "recent" information about his health. That information was sent to the government almost two years ago, he said in astonishment.

In its first year, the social security tribunal concluded just 461 hearings on appeals from people denied CPP disability and old-age security benefits — and most of those appeals were dismissed.

That's compared to thousands of hearings held the previous year under the old regime and despite an ever-ballooning backlog.

Employment Minister Jason Kenney has pointed to a "rigorous pre-screening process" for new members and an "unexpected legacy backlog" in explaining how the pileup has grown so large. His office recently hired 22 part-timers to help 73 full-time tribunal members wrestle with the backlog.

But the tribunal was seriously under-staffed its first year, with several full-time positions remaining vacant until this summer, more than a year after its official launch.

The full-time members earn between $97,000 to $114,000 a year. If 30-40 of them were idle in the first year of operation, that amounts to millions of dollars in wasted salary expenses.

In written responses to questions from Liberal MPs earlier this year, the government revealed that almost $12 million of its $13.6-million price tag in the tribunal's first year of operation in fact went to salaries.

Longtime stakeholders suggest the government had ulterior motives in slowing down the appeals process.

"Those who successfully appeal do not receive any interest on the years of retroactive benefits," says one lawyer who asked for anonymity because he represents dozens of clients who are awaiting decisions on their appeals and he fears government reprisals.

"The government keeps it. There's the incentive to not be in any rush to adjudicate cases; they used the stalled system to earn money. Let's not forget the new prosperity presently being enjoyed by the government."

The tribunal's "notice of readiness" system also contributed further to the backlog, the lawyer said.

The system was put in place on the first day of the tribunal, when Kenney says the government first learned of more than 6,000 backlogged cases inherited from the former system.

It required appellants to sign a document within 365 days indicating they'd file no additional submissions and were ready to proceed with their appeal. Allison Schmidt, a disability claims case manager based in Saskatchewan, warned her clients against signing it.

"They could have signed it, had a stroke the next day and then not been able to submit that critical information to the tribunal," she said.

Failing to sign it, however, delayed their appeals indefinitely, adding to the backlog bloat under the new system.

And the tribunal — buried under a mountain of paperwork by March 2014 as appellants submitted more supporting documents to meet the 365-day "notice of readiness" deadline — gave up on the system, saying it wasn't working.
The lawyer suspects the abandoned system was aimed at grinding the appeals process to a halt.

"They set it up immediately to avoid scheduling hearings," he said. "They knew the social security tribunal was not ready to hear appeals and this was the way to avoid having to hold any. In the meantime, they were making investment income on funds that weren't being awarded."

The Canada Pension Plan has net assets of more than $180 billion from contributions and returns on investments.

In an emailed response, the tribunal didn't immediately comment on whether new members didn't have cases assigned to them in the early months of the social security tribunal's existence.

But a spokesman said the formation of the tribunal "created administrative efficiencies, which has resulted in ongoing administrative savings."
Simon Rivet added: "There are no additional savings associated with the payment of benefits. Clients will continue to receive all benefits to which they are entitled."

Follow Lee-Anne Goodman on Twitter @leeanne25

Source: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/social-security-officials-were-idle-in-tribunals-early-months-says-official-284908491.html

Critics wonder why seriously ill seekers of disability benefits being denied

Information regarding the Canadian Pension Plan is displayed on the Service Canada website in Ottawa on Tuesday, January 31, 2012. (Sean Kilpatrick / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Lee-Anne Goodman, The Canadian Press
Published Tuesday, December 2, 2014 9:45PM EST

OTTAWA -- One terminally ill Canadian denied Canada Pension Plan disability benefits has been "diagnosed with brain cancer and is currently undergoing chemo and radiation treatments," according to the government's woefully backlogged social security tribunal.

Another of the tribunal's so-called crisis files, obtained under the Access to Information Act, describes an applicant as having been "diagnosed with liver cancer and received a liver transplant."

Yet another has been "diagnosed with Pick's Disease, which is terminal."
They are among the ailing or injured Canadians who have applied to have their cases expedited as they endure long waits for appeals in a new system that is grappling with an ever-growing, 11,000-case backlog, mostly involving CPP disability claims.

About 60 per cent of CPP disability claimants are initially turned down -- one of the highest rejection rates for a disability insurance program among the nations of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Claims are denied due to everything from insufficient paperwork to a lack of proper medical and employability information.

Michael Prince, a public policy professor at the University of Victoria and vocal critic of efforts to streamline the social security appeal process, said it makes no sense why so many Canadians are being turned down.

"If so few people who make an application are approved in the first instance, why aren't we dealing with it at the front end of the problem?" Prince asked in an interview.

"If you're turning so many people down, you're going to have more appeals, so why not try to figure out what you're failing to communicate to Canadians about how to properly and successfully apply for CPP disability benefits?

"Could it be because there is no desire to make it a more successful process?"
Prince notes that "deny, delay, wait for them to die" is the cynical philosophy thousands of military veterans in both Canada and the United States have ascribed to their respective veterans affairs departments as they wait months -- sometimes years -- for disability benefits.

But the plight facing those seeking pension disability benefits is just as dire as that confronting Canada's military veterans, many of whom have to wait months to find out if they're eligible for help, the federal auditor general has concluded.
"It's as bad, if not worse, than what's going on with the veterans," Prince said.
"Some people have been waiting for as long as five years for CPP disability benefits. They may not wear a uniform and medals, but they have no less traumatic experiences and struggles with surviving as veterans do."

The tribunal insists there's a 68 per cent success rate for appeals launched by ailing and injured Canadians who are denied disability benefits.

But data provided by the tribunal earlier this year shows that in its first year of existence, the new body held just 461 hearings on appeals from people denied CPP disability and old-age security benefits. Of those, 303 were dismissed.
That's compared to thousands of hearings held the previous year under the old regime.

The tribunal had no answer as to why so many ailing and injured Canadians are denied benefits when they first apply for them. But it pointed out that medical conditions often worsen.

"It should be noted that in CPP disability cases, which represent more than 90 per cent of the income security cases, appellants often have evolving medical conditions," Laura Revilien, a tribunal official, said in an email.

"Although appellants may not have qualified for the benefit at the time of the department's reconsideration decision, they may file new medical evidence while their appeal is at the tribunal. This information is then shared with the department and could result in a settlement agreement between the department and the appellant."

Employment and Social Development Minister Jason Kenney was on the hot seat in the House of Commons on Tuesday over the fact that terminally ill and financially strapped Canadians have had to apply to have their cases expedited as they await their appeals.

"This is completely outrageous," said NDP MP Jinny Sims during question period. "Canadians paid for these benefits with their premiums. They shouldn't have to go begging when they need them."

Kenney said the government has appointed 22 additional part-timers to help deal with the backlog. It has also shifted 12 members from the employment insurance section of the tribunal to the overtaxed CPP and old age security portion.
Earlier this month, the government also used its latest budget bill to remove a requirement in previous legislation to cap the size of the tribunal at 74 full-time staff. It also scrubbed limits on the number of hours part-time tribunal members are allowed to work.

When it was established, the new tribunal was supposed to provide a more efficient appeal process for those denied employment insurance, CPP and old-age security benefits.

It was also supposed to save Canadian taxpayers $25 million a year by streamlining the appeals process, even as stakeholders warned that the plan to replace nearly 1,000 part-time referees with 74 full-timers could result in a 16-month backlog.

Source: http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/critics-wonder-why-seriously-ill-seekers-of-disability-benefits-being-denied-1.2130216

Canada Pension Plan portfolio assets up, president boasts of 'resilient portfolio'

The corporate logo of Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) is shown. (THE CANADIAN PRESS / HO)

The Canadian Press
Published Thursday, November 13, 2014 11:02AM EST

TORONTO -- The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board said it earned a 3.4 per cent return in its latest quarter.

The board, which manages portfolios on behalf of the Canada Pension Plan, had net assets of $234.4 billion for the period ended Sept. 30.

That was up from $226.8 billion at the end of the previous quarter.

It says the majority of the increase, or $7.5 billion, was due to net investment income.

The remaining $100 million was net CPP contributions.

CPPIB invests money not currently needed by the Canada Pension Plan to pay benefits.

The board says it's building an investment portfolio with a "exceptionally long investment horizon" and that is a more indicative of its performance than the returns of any given quarter or year.

"We continue to realize the benefits of a globally diversified, resilient portfolio that is designed to deliver superior returns over the long term," said president and chief executive Mark Wiseman in a statement.

During the quarter, CPPIB closed a deal to acquire a 39 per cent stake in Interparking, one of Europe's largest parking lot management companies, for about $546 million.

Based in Brussels and with operations across nine countries in Europe, Interparking owns 657 car parks in 350 cities.

Source: http://www.ctvnews.ca/business/canada-pension-plan-portfolio-assets-up-president-boasts-of-resilient-portfolio-1.2100375

Was government really blindsided by disability benefits backlog?

Information regarding the Canadian Pension Plan is displayed on the Service Canada website in Ottawa on Tuesday, January 31, 2012. (Sean Kilpatrick / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Lee-Anne Goodman, The Canadian Press
Published Thursday, December 4, 2014 9:14AM EST
Last Updated Thursday, December 4, 2014 10:50AM EST 

 

OTTAWA -- "I am told that the pension appeals board did not share information on their backlog, their inventory, with (Human Resources Skills Development Canada) at the time that we transitioned to the social security tribunal, so this was an unexpected legacy backlog." -- Employment and Social Development Minister Jason Kenney in a parliamentary committee hearing on Nov. 27, 2014.
The Conservative government has been under fire in recent weeks for a growing backlog of 11,000 social security cases, most involving ailing or injured Canadians denied Canada Pension Plan disability benefits and waiting for their appeals to be heard.

Those in a holding pattern include terminal cancer patients and Canadians in such dire financial straits that they're contemplating suicide, according to social security tribunal "crisis files" obtained via the Access to Information Act.
Was the government really unaware of the true extent of the existing backlog, even as it set up a new appeals system and made decisions on how to allocate staff and resources to its new tribunal?

Spoiler alert: The Canadian Press Baloney Meter is a dispassionate examination of political statements culminating in a ranking of accuracy on a scale of "no baloney" to "full of baloney" (complete methodology below).
This one earns a rating of "some baloney" -- the statement is partly accurate but important details are missing
THE FACTS

The social security tribunal was launched on April 1, 2013.
The goal was to streamline the social security appeals process with 74 full-time members, and to save taxpayers $25 million a year by replacing four separate boards with a single panel.

Those boards employed 1,000 part-time referees to hear appeals from people denied employment insurance, CPP disability and old-age security benefits. Most of the 1,000 referees under the old system were dismissed when the new tribunal was established.

In testimony before various parliamentary committees over the past two years, government officials have said they determined that 74 full-time tribunal members and some part-time staffers could sufficiently replace those 1,000 part-timers after assessing caseloads under the old system.

As far back as 2009-10, there was a 1,000-case backlog of CPP disability cases, according to a report by the office of the commissioner of review tribunals.
And in the annual report of the Canada Pension Plan for the past two years, there's been evidence the backlog has been growing. The review tribunals office received 5,297 CPP disability appeals in 2012-2013, but held just 3,201 hearings.
The numbers were similar in 2011-12.

Some Canadians have waited as long as five years to have their appeals heard.

WHAT THEY SAY

Benoit Long, an assistant deputy minister at Employment and Social Development (formerly HRDC), was asked at a Senate committee hearing last month if the backlog problem existed prior to 2013.

"There would have been backlogs, yes," he said.

But Long added that the initial transfer to the new tribunal of 7,000 cases was "much higher than anticipated."

"Volume started to increase and activities started to decrease given the fact that there was a transition from one tribunal to another," he testified.

"That led to a significant number of cases that were transferred over to the tribunal, much higher than anticipated. That means that, when the tribunal started, it obviously had to start with a very large volume initially while it was still trying to ramp up, get organized and get set up."

Another department official, Eric Giguere, added: "There were backlogs, but not to this extent." Productivity levels were falling in the old system as the transition to the new tribunal approached, he reiterated.

A spokesperson for Kenney, however, said both men were testifying with the benefit of hindsight, insisting the department didn't know about the extent of the backlog when it launched the new tribunal.

David Dewhirst, a retired civil servant who represented the government for years at social security hearings, is skeptical.

"To say they didn't know is so high on the baloney meter that it defies logic," said Dewhirst.

"Everyone knew there were tremendous numbers in the backlog, all departments knew, and this information is filtered up to the minister. Everybody was aware that when 'D-Day' came, there was going to be a significant backlog, especially since everyone knew the number of appeals being heard was slowing down in the final year."

He added that case management was "impeccable" under the old system, and that caseload information was routinely passed along to the department.
And even if officials weren't getting up-to-date caseload information from those in the old system as they set up the new one, he added, "wouldn't a competent government ask those questions?"

THE VERDICT

Kenney may very well have been "dismayed" to learn about the size of the backlog when being briefed about the social security tribunal when he took over the department from Diane Finley in the summer of 2013.

But officials in his own department have testified publicly that a backlog already existed prior to the launch of the tribunal, although they say department officials didn't know how hefty it was. Canada Pension Plan statistics also show a pre-existing backlog of disability appeals.

A longtime government representative at tribunal hearings also says the government was always kept abreast of caseload.

For these reasons, Kenney's statement that the backlog was "unexpected" and that the government wasn't told about the backlogged cases contains "some baloney."

METHODOLOGY

The Baloney Meter is a project of The Canadian Press that examines the level of accuracy in statements made by politicians. Each claim is researched and assigned a rating based on the following scale:

No baloney -- the statement is completely accurate
A little baloney -- the statement is mostly accurate but more information is required

Some baloney -- the statement is partly accurate but important details are missing

A lot of baloney -- the statement is mostly inaccurate but contains elements of truth

Full of baloney -- the statement is completely inaccurate

SOURCES

• Testimony to the Standing Senate Committee on National Finance, Wednesday, Nov. 5
• Testimony to the Standing Senate Committee on National Finance, May 17, 2012
• David Dewhirst, former Service Canada official employed contractually as a government representative at social security review tribunals for Service Canada
• Annual Report of the Canada Pension Plan, 2012-2013 and 2011-2012
• Annual Report of the Office of the Commissioner or Review Tribunal, 2008-2009

Source: http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/was-government-really-blindsided-by-disability-benefits-backlog-1.2132484

Harper, PCO approved 15-month hiring process for social security tribunal

Information regarding the Canadian Pension Plan is displayed on the Service Canada website in Ottawa on Tuesday, January 31, 2012. (Sean Kilpatrick / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Lee-Anne Goodman, The Canadian Press
Published Wednesday, December 17, 2014 1:11PM EST
Last Updated Wednesday, December 17, 2014 4:27PM EST 

 

OTTAWA -- The Privy Council Office, the bureaucracy that serves the prime minister and cabinet, played a key role in designing a lengthy 15-month hiring process for members of the government's badly backlogged social security tribunal, an internal memo shows.

The document, obtained by The Canadian Press, says the process was approved by Prime Minister Stephen Harper just six months before the tribunal launched.
Employment Minister Jason Kenney has pointed the finger at the "rigorous pre-screening process" for new tribunal members as one of the reasons why thousands of terminally ill or injured Canadians are waiting years for appeals after being denied Canada Pension Plan disability benefits.

In an effort to deal with the 11,000-case backlog for social security appeals, mostly involving CPP disability benefits, Kenney has since shortened the 15-month hiring process.

Critics question why PCO would have designed such a lengthy screening process to begin with, and why Harper agreed to it. Former adjudicators under the old system say they were brought on board in a much shorter period of time.
"Approving a 15-month hiring process for an organization that would open in six months shows the government had little concern about the fact that it would leave thousands of vulnerable Canadians in an appalling and completely unnecessary situation," Liberal MP Rodger Cuzner said Wednesday.
"But these are the kinds of decisions that get made when Priority 1 is saving money to pay for an income-splitting benefit for the wealthy."

The new tribunal inherited about 6,000 outstanding cases when it launched on April 1, 2013, replacing four former appeals panels in what was billed as an effort to streamline the process and save Canadian taxpayers $25 million a year.
In a memo to Kenney sent in January from Service Canada and obtained via the Access to Information Act, the minister was told that "discussions with PCO resulted in a selection process for SST members, approved by the prime minister, which sets the parameters for future selection initiatives."

The memo, written as the social security backlog continued to swell, says a 12-month selection process was in place on the tribunal and an additional three months were required to appoint candidates to the proper positions.

"The total estimated time for a selection and appointment process would be 15 months," the memo read, asking Kenney to be mindful of the lengthy hiring process while urging him to sign off as soon as possible on new hires.
The memo also delves into difficulties finding bilingual candidates to hear appeals on the new tribunal.

"The current pool ... has no bilingual candidates outside of Quebec and there are limited candidates in some regions," it reads. "There are also only four aboriginal people, two persons with disabilities and six visible minority candidates."

Critics have pointed out that there were already 1,000 well-qualified part-time referees working in the old system who could have been approached to work on the new tribunal, or kept on while new members were being vetted, in order to prevent even further delays for some of Canada's most vulnerable citizens.
Only a handful of former referees were hired onto the new tribunal. And new appointees sat idle for much of their first year of employment, those familiar with the launch of the tribunal have said.

Philippe Rabot, one-time review tribunals commissioner under the old system, has said that 30-40 appointees making $100,000 were "sitting at home that first year."

No work was assigned to them because the tribunal simply wasn't ready to roll out on April 1, 2013, he said. The tribunal, meantime, says those appointees were being mentored by more "more experienced members" and learning how to operate a new case management computer system.

A former referee under the old system said she was personally laid off two years ago by someone who had just left the PCO to join Employment and Social Development.

"The PCO was definitely deeply involved in the entire transition from the old system to the new tribunal," said the former referee, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisals.

There are now 73 full-timers on the new tribunal and a freshly hired part-time complement of 22 employees.

A spokesman for the tribunal said Wednesday that at Kenney's request earlier this year, the hiring process was shortened for both full-time and part-time members.

"The department accelerated the 2014 process by conducting three concurrent panels for interviews (instead of only one panel), and prioritizing those candidates who indicated interest in part-time positions," said Pierre Nolet.

Source: http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/harper-pco-approved-15-month-hiring-process-for-social-security-tribunal-1.2152053

CPP Disability Benefits Denied To 60% Of Applicants, Among Highest Rejection Rates In World

CP  |  By Lee-Anne Goodman, The Canadian Press

Posted: 12/02/2014 5:52 pm EST Updated: 12/03/2014 4:59 pm EST

OTTAWA - One terminally ill Canadian denied Canada Pension Plan disability benefits has been "diagnosed with brain cancer and is currently undergoing chemo and radiation treatments," according to the government's woefully backlogged social security tribunal.

Another of the tribunal's so-called crisis files, obtained under the Access to Information Act, describes an applicant as having been "diagnosed with liver cancer and received a liver transplant."

Yet another has been "diagnosed with Pick's Disease, which is terminal."

They are among the ailing or injured Canadians who have applied to have their cases expedited as they endure long waits for appeals in a new system that is grappling with an ever-growing, 11,000-case backlog, mostly involving CPP disability claims.

About 60 per cent of CPP disability claimants are initially turned down — one of the highest rejection rates for a disability insurance program among the nations of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Claims are denied due to everything from insufficient paperwork to a lack of proper medical and employability information.

Michael Prince, a public policy professor at the University of Victoria and vocal critic of efforts to streamline the social security appeal process, said it makes no sense why so many Canadians are being turned down.

"If so few people who make an application are approved in the first instance, why aren't we dealing with it at the front end of the problem?" Prince asked in an interview.

"If you're turning so many people down, you're going to have more appeals, so why not try to figure out what you're failing to communicate to Canadians about how to properly and successfully apply for CPP disability benefits?

"Could it be because there is no desire to make it a more successful process?"

Prince notes that "deny, delay, wait for them to die" is the cynical philosophy thousands of military veterans in both Canada and the United States have ascribed to their respective veterans affairs departments as they wait months — sometimes years — for disability benefits.

But the plight facing those seeking pension disability benefits is just as dire as that confronting Canada's military veterans, many of whom have to wait months to find out if they're eligible for help, the federal auditor general has concluded.
"It's as bad, if not worse, than what's going on with the veterans," Prince said.
"Some people have been waiting for as long as five years for CPP disability benefits. They may not wear a uniform and medals, but they have no less traumatic experiences and struggles with surviving as veterans do.".

The tribunal insists there's a 68 per cent success rate for appeals launched by ailing and injured Canadians who are denied disability benefits.

But data provided by the tribunal earlier this year shows that in its first year of existence, the new body held just 461 hearings on appeals from people denied CPP disability and old-age security benefits. Of those, 303 were dismissed.

That's compared to thousands of hearings held the previous year under the old regime.

The tribunal had no answer as to why so many ailing and injured Canadians are denied benefits when they first apply for them. But it pointed out that medical conditions often worsen.

"It should be noted that in CPP disability cases, which represent more than 90 per cent of the income security cases, appellants often have evolving medical conditions," Laura Revilien, a tribunal official, said in an email.

"Although appellants may not have qualified for the benefit at the time of the department’s reconsideration decision, they may file new medical evidence while their appeal is at the tribunal. This information is then shared with the department and could result in a settlement agreement between the department and the appellant."

Employment and Social Development Minister Jason Kenney was on the hot seat in the House of Commons on Tuesday over the fact that terminally ill and financially strapped Canadians have had to apply to have their cases expedited as they await their appeals.

"This is completely outrageous," said NDP MP Jinny Sims during question period. "Canadians paid for these benefits with their premiums. They shouldn't have to go begging when they need them."

Kenney said the government has appointed 22 additional part-timers to help deal with the backlog. It has also shifted 12 members from the employment insurance section of the tribunal to the overtaxed CPP and old age security portion.

Earlier this month, the government also used its latest budget bill to remove a requirement in previous legislation to cap the size of the tribunal at 74 full-time staff. It also scrubbed limits on the number of hours part-time tribunal members are allowed to work.

When it was established, the new tribunal was supposed to provide a more efficient appeal process for those denied employment insurance, CPP and old-age security benefits.

It was also supposed to save Canadian taxpayers $25 million a year by streamlining the appeals process, even as stakeholders warned that the plan to replace nearly 1,000 part-time referees with 74 full-timers could result in a 16-month backlog.

Follow Lee-Anne Goodman on Twitter @leeanne25

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/12/03/cpp-disability-benefits-denied_n_6257988.html?utm_hp_ref=canada#

Disability benefits wait stretches years due to tribunal backlog

By Lee-Anne Goodman The Canadian Press

  Canadians with disabilities are waiting years for appeal decisions on whether they should receive benefits.

File / Global News

OTTAWA – Terminal cancer patients, organ-transplant recipients and suicidal, debt-addled Canadians are among the 11,000 people waiting to have their appeals heard by Ottawa’s badly backlogged social security tribunal.
Some of those awaiting a decision on their eligibility for benefits, including people with debilitating injuries, have had their cases expedited due to severely declining health.

Others, however, have waited years — some are still waiting — to hear whether the initial decision to deny them Canada Pension Plan disability benefits will be overturned.

Given the nature of their illnesses, a decision may come too late.

“I prayed for patience and every day it came to me and I believed I would finally get what was rightfully mine,” said Terry Petrow, 62, a former grocery executive suffering a severe back condition that has consistently worsened after an accident when he was in his 20s.

Petrow, who is undergoing back surgery soon, was finally granted benefits last month after waiting almost five years to have his appeal heard. He’s grateful his wife’s income kept the couple afloat during the ordeal.

“Thank God for that,” Petrow said Monday in an interview from his Manitoba home. “I can’t imagine how terrible it would be to endure the financial horror stories I’ve heard other people are experiencing in this system.”

Federal government data obtained under the Access to Information Act shows 58 per cent of Canadians who applied for disability benefits last year were denied. The tribunal says that 68 per cent of appeals are successful.

In the tribunal’s first 18 months of operation, the backlog of CPP disability and old-age security cases has increased by almost 50 per cent.

Jason Kenney, the employment and social development minister, has promised to shrink the backlog of cases, saying the new tribunal didn’t expect to inherit more than 6,000 cases left outstanding from the old system.

The tribunal has also hired an outside consulting firm to help it come up with a plan to deal with the pileup, and additional staff has been brought on to wrestle with the ever-growing number of cases.

Petrow credits his representative throughout the appeal process — Allison Schmidt, a Regina-based pension-disability case manager — for navigating a complex system.

“I only have one word to describe Allison, and that is ‘angel.'”
That “angel,” meantime, has been receiving letters from the tribunal suggesting that she is “unauthorized” to help CPP disability applicants make appeals to the new panel under law society rules and regulations that differ from province to province.

In Ontario, for example, a representative must be a lawyer or a paralegal. Other provincial law societies have no such requirements.

“Members of the tribunal may refuse to proceed with the hearing upon discovering that a representative is unauthorized,” reads one letter to Schmidt from a tribunal administrator, suggesting she could be reported to various law societies for her work.

“In such cases, the hearing may be adjourned and a final decision on the appeal file could be significantly delayed.”

Schmidt, a vocal critic of the government’s new tribunal, has been appearing at CPP disability hearings for almost two decades on behalf of disabled Canadians, but she is neither a lawyer nor a paralegal. Her company employs a paralegal, however, who represents clients in Ontario during various stages of the appeal process.

In a blog post published Monday, Schmidt suggested the tribunal is targeting her.
“In recent months, the work that I do, as well as other dedicated advocates in Canada, is coming under attack by the bureaucrats at the social security tribunal,” she wrote.

The tribunal, meantime, says it was simply making sure representatives were aware of the regulations in various provinces in advance of upcoming hearings in order to prevent potential delays.

In an interview Monday, Schmidt said requirements to hire lawyers or paralegals add even further hardship to Canadians waiting for their appeals to be heard — they’re already financially strapped, she pointed out, given they’ve been denied CPP disability benefits for years.

“Who can afford to hire a lawyer when you’re in dire financial straits as it is?” said Schmidt, who says her rates are substantially less than lawyers or paralegals.

She often doesn’t bill for travel if she knows her clients are in deep debt, she added.

“Many of these individuals lack the ability to meet the basic necessities of life and their medical needs. Their families’ security and stability is threatened at its core.”

Among the cases considered “crisis files” by the tribunal are numerous people who have asked for their cases to be expedited due to terminal illness or financial hardship. Most of the terminally ill have had their appeals expedited, the documents indicate, but not all of those claiming financial hardship did.
“Appellant is past due on bills, has a large debt load with various banks/credit cards, medical documents support possible suicide,” reads a description of one appellant in government documents obtained under the Access to Information Act.

That appeal was expedited and heard in June. It wasn’t clear if a decision has been made.

Another claimant is described as “having no income for the last two years and is getting calls from collection agencies.” The tribunal asked the woman to submit documents to substantiate her claim; her appeal was not expedited.

Another appellant in dire financial straits had to enlist his MP to write a letter on his behalf urging his case be expedited. It was, with a hearing held in October.
The MP’s party affiliation wasn’t specified in the documents.

Tribunal spokesman Richard Beaulne said the panel “acknowledges the difficult situation” for many appellants.

“Unfortunately, many other appellants are experiencing similar challenges, and it would not be fair to accelerate others’ appeals, as this would further delay the appeals of other appellants who have been waiting longer for their appeal to proceed,” he added in an email.

“However, if a situation becomes worse for an appellant, they are always welcome to submit a new request to expedite their cases.”

Stu Lang, another appellant with a debilitating knee injury who finally won his appeal in September after a five-year battle, says he’s “disgusted” by the process.

Lang, 62, said he resents having to pay tax on the five years of benefits that will soon be paid to him.

“That is money I have already given the government, and that I am entitled to, and now I have to pay the government again in taxes.”

© The Canadian Press, 2014

 Source: http://globalnews.ca/news/1703378/disability-benefits-wait-stretches-years-due-to-tribunal-backlog/

Another Queen's Park computer mess, union says

By Christina Blizzard, QMI Agency

First posted: Saturday, November 29, 2014 10:00 PM EST | Updated: Saturday, November 29, 2014 10:46 PM EST

Helena Jaczek

TORONTO - There’s a $240 million computer system boondoggle brewing at Queen’s Park.

A new system installed by the Ministry of Community and Social Services (MCSS) is in shambles and has generated millions of dollars of overpayments and other glitches in the system.

Front-line workers are scrambling to generate cheques manually, payments are going to incorrect addresses and workers are bracing themselves to get the correct cheques in the mail in time for Christmas.

A spokesperson for OPSEU, the union that represents many caseworkers who handle Ontarians Disability Support Program (ODSP) and Ontario Works (OW) cheques said the chaos caused by the new system is a “disaster” for workers and is providing hardships for people who need the cheques.

“A lot of people are waiting at the desk for their money,” said Anne Leach, who works in MCSS office in eastern Ontario.

A job aide provided by the ministry did not work.

“We were not able to fix the problem. Manual cheques were written,” she said.
“There were many overpayments. People’s entitlements at the end of the month were not accurate,” she said.

Many payments went to the wrong address.

“The new system did not recognize the new address, so payments were mailed to the old address,” she said.

“It was a disaster for the workers,” she said.

The benefits mess hit disabled people on Friday as ODSB cheques go out on the last banking day of every month.

The problem is expected to get worse this week when OW — general welfare — cheques go out on Monday.

Leach said there wasn’t enough work done to prepare recipients for the new system.

“We couldn’t even give people a heads-up.

“Some people didn’t get statements, so we’ll be hearing from people next week.”
Historically, there’s an early pay day in December. Cheques are expected to go out Dec. 20.

That gives workers only 10 days to straighten things out and get the correct information into the system in order to generate Christmas cheques on time.
“We’re bracing ourselves,” Leach said.

“It’s hectic. It’s crazy. It is emotional labour and we’re taking it home because we don’t know what to say to our clients,” she said.

The new system, purchased from IBM, went live Nov. 12.

A spokesman for social services minister Helena Jaczek says the new Social Assistant Management System (SAMS) was supposed to, bring service delivery into the 21st century.

“We recognize that there have been some issues with the implementation process of SAMS,” said Amber Anderson.

“The ministry has implemented a strategy to verify that payments are accurate. In some cases, this has included manual validations to ensure the new system is working properly,” Anderson said.

“The verification process was successfully completed and payments are on track for delivery. We expect recipients to receive their cheques on time as per the usual process,” she said.

“There was an error identified earlier this week where the system was generating incorrect payments. The fact is that for the clients involved in this situation, we were able to either stop these payments before they went out, or retract them immediately within 24 hours with minimal impact to clients. In an extremely limited number of instances where we were not able to retract the incorrect payment, we are working directly with the clients. The whole situation was rectified within 24 hours,” she said.

She acknowledged the change, “can be stressful for frontline case workers,” and thanked them for their dedication.

Tory critic Bill Walker said his party asked the government about the new system in a committee and was assured both by the minister and by senior bureaucrats that it was under control.

“It’s unacceptable that yet another screw-up has happened.

“The costs to figure it out and the time and money that’s going to be needed to straighten the mess out are totally unacceptable,” he said.

“The people who need it most, the people who are the most needy in our society, are going to pay the price for this,” he said.

This is the government that brought us the eHealth boondoggle where $1 billion was wasted in a failed attempt to get health records on line.

What are the chances they’ll get it right this time?

Apparently, they still haven’t learned how to install computer systems efficiently.

Funny thing, though, they were awfully good at deleting e-mails. Perhaps they can get the tech genius who did that so efficiently to fix this mess.

Or not.


Source:http://www.torontosun.com/2014/11/29/another-queens-park-computer-mess-union-says

CIN: Campbell spells it out for the IBC

Auto Insurance in the legislature

Campbell's comments on Bill 171.
She spells out the Insurance industry profits and how insurance victims are getting victimized by bad legislation.

Photo Canadian Insurance News

Link to the video: http://t.co/GMaEV5nRl7

All the while there are now over 10,000 appeals waiting to be heard

at the Social Security Tribunal.

The more people that speak out about this industry, the better. 

The better not only for Crash survivors, but for all Ontarian s.

Speak out about an Industry built on the injured victims of Insurance systems. 

Built with our money.

Admin

Canadian Insurance News

Efficiency not so efficient

By Lethbridge Herald Opinon on August 16, 2014.

There are times when downsizing with the aim of efficiency turns out to be very inefficient.

The federal government’s creation of the Social Security Tribunal seems to be one of those instances.

According to a story Friday from The Canadian Press, the tribunal is facing a horrendous backlog of appeals, numbering in the thousands, from disabled and unemployed Canadians.

The tribunal, created in 2013, consists of fewer than 70 full-time members who replaced a board of more than 1,000 part-time referees who heard appeals concerning benefits. At the time the government said the new tribunal would produce a saving of $25 million a year.

Ironically, the tribunal was created with the aim of streamlining the appeal process. The tribunal took over more than 7,000 cases, the majority involving Canadians who were denied CPP disability benefits. Documents the Canadian Press obtained through an access-to-information request show as many as 6,000 of those cases still haven’t been heard, and there are usually about 3,000 new appeals each year.

It’s hard to understand how the government figured a group of 70-some people were going to be able to do the work of more than 1,000, even if the others were part-timers. Judging from the rate at which these appeals are being handled, the tribunal will only continue to get further behind as time goes on. That’s not an encouraging scenario for anyone who has filed an appeal.

The situation is similar to the closure earlier this year of nine Veterans Affairs regional offices. When the feds shut down offices in Kelowna, Prince George, Saskatoon, Brandon, Thunder Bay, Windsor, Sydney, Charlottetown and Corner Brook, it prompted fears from veterans that they would have a more difficult time obtaining services.

When the planned cuts were originally announced, NDP MP Peter Stoffer said in 2012 that Canadian veterans were already waiting too long for service from Veterans Affairs, and the cuts would only add to the amount of time it takes to resolve a claim for veterans, many of whom struggle with physical and mental health issues.

Saving taxpayers money is a laudable goal, but at the same time, the federal government is tasked with providing certain services to citizens. Decisions that interfere with the provision of those services are counterproductive to the government’s responsibilities.

When government bean-counters haul out their calculators and devise a plan that will save tax dollars by “streamlining,” they need to consider that there are real people at the other end of the line – people who might be depending on those government services.

NDP employment critic Jinny Sims, in blasting the federal government over the Social Security Tribunal’s backlog, said the lengthy wait times affect the most vulnerable – disabled and unemployed Canadians.
It’s with that in mind that government officials need to be careful when cuts are made for the sake of efficiency.

Comment on this editorial online at http://www.lethbridgeherald.com/opinions/.

Source: http://lethbridgeherald.com/commentary/opinions/2014/08/16/efficiency-not-so-efficient/

Is CPP disability turning into a tax grab?

Publish Date: Monday, 14th of July 2014

by Carol Hughes, MPP Algoma - Manitoulin - Kapuskasing 

 

People who had been denied federal disability benefits were thrown a curve ball as new rules have stripped them of their right to have an appeal in person.

Where in the past individuals were able to meet face to face with an adjudicator, they will no longer be legally entitled to this method of final appeal. The change in policy reflects a government attempt at cost cutting for adjudicators but the problem appears to be how many people may be cast aside as the government works through a backlog that was already growing before the change was made.

In the past there were 350 individuals across the regions who heard appeals to applications that had been denied. Now those part time positions are scrapped and have been replaced by a centralized panel of 35 full time individuals who make up the Social Security Tribunal. While this new tribunal did inherit a significant backlog, they have not made a dent and a full year later the number has grown by more than 25%. For people waiting to hear their fate, this news is not good. Factor in the inability for any recourse on the tribunals decision and the outcome could be devastating for applicants who truly require the benefit.

It is important to remember that CPP disability benefits are only made available to people who have paid into the pension plan and can no longer work because of an ailment. This is not a handout, but an insured safety net that applicants have contributed to throughout their working lives. Too often the Conservative government has misrepresented social programs in a way that does not reflect the fact that the people accessing them have also contributed to them. Pensions and employment insurance are constantly being undermined by penny pinching budgets that threaten to turn contributions into nothing more than taxes.

Until these changes came into effect an individual whose paper application was found insufficient had the right to tell a three-person review tribunal why that decision may be wrong. Now these applicants can be dismissed at any stage and have no legal right to a final appeal process – which has changed decisions in the past.

People who have been waiting are getting nervous as the tribunal seems to have set plowing through the backlog as their overarching priority, instead of ensuring that those who truly deserve the benefit receive it. Imagine how crushing it would be to have lost the ability to work, waited years on an application for a benefit you have paid into, found your case summarily denied, and be left with no course for appeal because of the government’s desire to save money – probably for a splashy pre-election budget.

People pay into these benefits in good faith. The government appears to be using them as a source of revenue instead of what they are designed to do. They brag about low taxes, but in truth they are just spreading the misery to places where they hope fewer Canadians will notice.


Source: http://www.thealgomanews.ca/news/political/is-cpp-disability-turning-into-a-tax-grab/
 

Social Security Tribunal saves money, but hears fewer appeals

 

 Information regarding the Canadian Pension Plan is displayed on the Service Canada website in Ottawa
 on Tuesday, January 31, 2012. (Sean Kilpatrick / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Lee-Anne Goodman, The Canadian Press
Published Monday, September 22, 2014 3:45PM EDT
Last Updated Monday, September 22, 2014 5:38PM EDT 

 

OTTAWA -- The federal government's new Social Security Tribunal is significantly cheaper than the system it replaced 18 months ago, but 87 per cent of its $13.6-million price tag in its first year went to salaries.

Responses to written questions from Liberal MPs reveal that in 2013-14, the badly backlogged tribunal heard just 1,782 appeals from ailing, disabled and unemployed people who were denied employment insurance, Canada Pension Plan and old-age security benefits.

That's more than 1,000 fewer appeals than were heard on average annually under the previous regime. The tribunal has been straining under a growing backlog of more than 10,000 outstanding appeals and wasn't fully staffed until this summer.

With its $13.6 million budget, the new tribunal has lived up to the government's insistence that it would save taxpayers more than $20 million a year.

In the year before the tribunal's creation, the four boards it replaced cost $33.8 million and that was down from $42.4 million in 2010-2011.

But $11.8 million of the new tribunal's costs went to the salaries of about 70 full-time tribunal members and other staff, all while the backlog continued to swell.

In its responses to Liberal MP Rodger Cuzner, the government also revealed the tribunal was created without any studies to justify the need for it.

When asked about the tribunal's "ongoing cost and efficiency savings and the supporting rationale," an official at Employment and Social Development Canada outlined how the government hoped to slash costs.

Among the cost-cutting objectives was a 25-per-cent reduction in the number of appeals heard, the official wrote.

The responses also reveal that since the inception of the tribunal in April 2013, there's been no development of standards concerning the timely scheduling of appeals.

The government also said it couldn't provide any information about negative feedback it may have received from stakeholders.

"No audit, evaluation or review documents were prepared or conducted on the SST to date," the official wrote.

Cuzner said the responses weren't surprising.

"I guess this is the result when you establish a program without any plan, without any study and push it through via an omnibus piece of legislation where a committee can't study it and provide any recommendations or assess any potential impact," he said in an interview.

"This government has done a lot of dumb and wasteful things, but $11 million in salaries to process so few appeals in its first 14 months of its existence? This is inflicting hardship on vulnerable Canadians."

Allison Schmidt, a Regina-based disability claims advocate, said the government's responses show the tribunal is in disarray and focused on saving money above all.

"At whose expense is this money being saved?" Schmidt asked in an interview.
"It all makes for a very grim and discouraging situation for vulnerable Canadians who have no other financial support but to apply for a benefit they may be qualified for due to contributions made to CPP for the majority of their working years."

An official for Employment and Social Development said the tribunal "operates at arm's-length from the department."

He added that more than half the full-time members are working on reducing the backlog and the tribunal will hire another 22 part-timers this fall to help with the backlog.

Source: http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/social-security-tribunal-saves-money-but-hears-fewer-appeals-1.2018831
 

Former member raises caseload, expertise concerns with Social Security Tribunal

By: Lee-Anne Goodman, The Canadian Press

Thursday, Sep. 25, 2014 at 3:42 PM


OTTAWA - A former member of the government's badly backlogged social security tribunal says the panel is being pressured to hold hearings at too swift a pace.

The one-time member, who quit soon after being appointed to the tribunal, says the government's focus on hearing cases as quickly as possible is to the detriment of ailing or unemployed Canadians denied employment insurance, Canada Pension Plan or old-age security benefits.

"You want the person hearing your case to consider the facts carefully, who isn't going to feel rushed or resentful because of the workload," said the former member, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of possible reprisals.
The old regime was "client-motivated and client-driven," the person said.

"Fairness to the client and fairness of the process was one of the key pillars, and was something that was always to be considered. Under the new process, I never did hear that — it was all about production and getting cases done."

A spokeswoman for Employment and Social Development Minister Jason Kenney disputed the criticisms, saying the new system has accelerated the process for employment insurance appeals in particular.

"The old appeals process for employment insurance was expensive and slow; fewer than one in three claims were heard within 30 days," Alexandra Fortier said in an email.

"The reduction of the number of appeals is largely attributed to the new reconsideration process for EI refusals. Under the new process, approximately 90 per cent of the clients who request a reconsideration do not pursue any further type of appeal."

The tribunal, established in April 2013, replaced four other separate panels that heard appeals on social security rulings.

But the former member suggested that some of the government's 72 full-time appointees to the SST lack the skill set needed for the job. Several of those appointees have donated money to the party in the past.

"You have to have insight — into the legal aspects, the law and the precedents — and you have to bring that into your decision-making," the person said.

"You require a certain expertise and I would say that a number of individuals that were appointed, like a lot of government-in-council appointments — they do not necessarily have that."

The government has made good on a promise to save taxpayers more than $20 million a year under the new system. But the tribunal is also hearing fewer appeals and is struggling with a backlog of more than 10,000 cases.

In addition to 72 full-time members, the feds have hired 22 part-time employees to help with the backlog of Canada Pension Plan disability and old-age security cases.

"It was a frustrating place to work," the former tribunal employee said. "They want the stars and the moon."

Liberal employment critic Rodger Cuzner said the individual's insights show what a mess the government has made of the system.

"The tribunal is a perfect example of callous incompetence by this government — not only costing taxpayers more but hurting vulnerable Canadians in the process," Cuzner said.

Follow Lee-Anne Goodman on Twitter @leeanne25

Source: http://www.brandonsun.com/national/breaking-news/former-member-raises-caseload-expertise-concerns-with-social-security-tribunal-277118241.html?thx=y