Benefit Programs

Overview

Over 20 million Canadians are reached by our benefit programs, which contribute directly to their economic and social well-being. We deliver income-based and other benefits, credits, and services to eligible recipients for federal, provincial, and territorial governments. We administer the Canada Child Tax Benefit, the Goods and Services Tax/Harmonized Sales Tax credit, and Children’s Special Allowances, which are three core federal programs that issue benefit payments. We also deliver the Universal Child Care Benefit on behalf of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, the Disability Tax Credit, as well as numerous ongoing and one-time benefit and credit programs and services on behalf of provincial, territorial, and federal government clients.

Our Expected Results:

1. Benefit recipients have access to timely and accurate information.

2. Eligibility determination and payment processing are timely and accurate.

Our Assessments:

1. Met

2. Met

Spending Profile (in thousands of dollars)

2008-2009 priorities

In support of our overarching theme of achieving excellence in program delivery, we committed to undertake a number of initiatives that focused on strengthening service and addressing non-compliance.

Strengthening service

To strengthen service delivery, we focused on increasing the accessibility and efficiency of our programs and services, as well as enhancing our Internet-based, self-service options to ensure that benefit recipients have timely access to the information they need.

In 2008-2009, as a result of the enhancements to My Account, the number of visits to the Benefits Web pages increased by 18.8%, suggesting that more benefit recipients are using the self-service options on our Web pages.

Our outreach efforts are designed to increase our visibility in the community, to encourage uptake of our programs, and to inform individuals of their entitlements and obligations. We recognize that enrolment levels for many segments of the population, such as persons with disabilities, new residents, and First Nations people, benefit from targeted outreach. In 2008-2009, we believe our outreach activities were well received by our target audiences and contributed to increasing awareness and encouraging voluntary compliance.

Benefits validation

To maintain the confidence of benefit recipients and client governments, we need to ensure that the right benefits are delivered only to the right families and individuals. In order to achieve this, during 2008-2009 we further applied elements of our compliance strategy. For example, we validated marital status, children’s care situations, addresses, and income information. The information provided to recipients during validation reviews helps to inform and educate them about their eligibility and entitlement requirements.

Our credible enforcement presence was enhanced by successful efforts in moving cases of misrepresentation towards prosecution.

Expected results

Benefit recipients have access to timely and accurate information

Performance Rating: Met

Benefit recipients need to be able to access the information, tools, and assistance we provide in a manner that responds to their needs. Since many Canadians rely on the telephone as their primary method of contact, we invested additional resources designed to strengthen service and increase caller accessibility in 2008-2009. As noted in our Performance Report Card, our results exceeded our enhanced 90% caller accessibility targets for Canada Child Tax Benefit (CCTB) and GST/HST credit enquiries. In addition, we exceeded our service standard for answering CCTB enquiries in a timely manner (within two minutes of entering the call queue). Our GST/HST credit telephone service was similarly successful.

We strive to provide accurate telephone service by utilizing various tools and accurately updating reference materials required to work efficiently. In 2008-2009, we enhanced our National Quality and Accuracy Learning Program to help our agents improve the quality and accuracy of the service they provide. Results on call quality and accuracy are used, in part, to identify training needs as well as emerging issues and trends.

We believe that enhancing awareness of our benefit programs and recipients’ obligations by providing accurate information to Canadians reduces the need for Canadians to contact us, promotes application for programs, and enhances benefit compliance. For example, we create and direct information packages to reach specific groups to give them a better understanding of our programs, as well as their rights and obligations as recipients.

We surveyed a sample of first-time CCTB applicants in 2008-2009 to obtain feedback on the information that we provided. Results indicated that over 93% of those who responded to the survey were satisfied with the information received, and 94% found the application instructions easy to understand. This was an improvement over the previous year’s results of 89% and 91% respectively.

Eligibility determination and payment processing are timely and accurate

Performance Rating: Met

We strive to ensure that accurate payments are received on time by the right individuals. This requires that recipients provide us with valid information and that we process this information correctly and in a timely manner.

The processing of applications, marital status change forms, written enquiries and telephone referrals must be timely so that we can accurately calculate benefit entitlements. In 2008-2009, we successfully met our key timeliness service standard target for responding to written enquiries and telephone referrals. During the year, when we noted that our results for processing benefit applications and marital status change forms were slightly below the target, we took active steps to address the problem by transferring files between tax centres. As a result, our final quality assurance study of the period showed improvement over previous findings.

Not only do applications, marital status change forms, written enquiries, and telephone referrals have to be processed in a timely manner, they must also be processed accurately. Our overall accuracy was 97.6% for processing benefit applications and marital status forms and 97.1% for processing written enquiries and telephone referrals, meeting or mostly meeting our target of 98%. Payment accuracy for these activities was 99.2% and 98.8% respectively.

We also target accounts identified as high-risk for potential overpayments or underpayments for further verification. In 2008-2009, the results achieved indicate that we used effective criteria for selecting accounts for review and that we ensured benefits were paid only to those who qualify and were in the correct amount.

Although we reviewed fewer accounts in 2008-2009 than in the previous year, our effective targeting identified greater financial consequences. During 2008-2009, our adjustments uncovered $99 million in benefit and credit underpayments and over $260 million in overpayments, an increase from $81 million and $195 million respectively the previous year. When recipients were overpaid, we offset amounts from future payments, refunds, and credits to which they are entitled.

Performance Report Card

Date modified:

2009-11-05