Veterans Affairs needs a cash injection to eliminate application backlog, says budget watchdog

If the federal government is going to make headway on a massivebacklog of unprocessedveterans benefits claims, it's going to need more people and a lot more money, Canada's Parliamentary Budget Office said today.

The PBO released a report that predicts measures announced by federal officials last June to tackle the enormous number of overdue applications will not deliver the results the federal government hoped to achieve.

At the end of March this year, there were 49,216 benefits requests in the system. Thatfigure had beenwhittled down to about 46,000 three months later, when Veterans Affairs Canada announced its plan in a teleconference with reporters.

More than half of thoseunprocessed claims wereoverdue meaning claimants had beenkept waiting months beyond the department's owndeadline when Veterans Affairs said it was going to hire 300 additional staff on a temporary basis to eliminate the backlog by 2023.

The PBO said Monday it believes the department's push to wipe out the backlog can only workif the newly-hired staff are kept on for years.

"Our projections show that, with these additional resources, the department will reduce the backlog by about 10,000 applications by March 2022," saidthe PBOreport, posted online.

"However, we estimate that, to fully eliminate the backlog and then maintain the service standards going forward, it would mean retaining most of these additional employees beyond 202122. With this extension, we project that the backlog would be eliminated in the first quarter of 2023."

That "extension" would cost about $103 millionbetween now and the end of 202425 budget year.

More people, more money

The PBO report also suggested an alternative:the federal government could hire392 more peoplein addition to the 300 hired already, which would allow it tosolve the problem in a year.

That option would cost the federal treasury almost $159 million over the next five years.

A spokesman for Veterans Affairs Minister Lawrence MacAulaysaid the budget office did not look at the whole picture when it compiled its assessment.

"We know that too many veterans are waiting too long for decisions on their applications and that we can and must do better," said Cameron McNeillin an email statement.

"While the PBO's report shows that new hires made as part of our recent investment of nearly $200 [million]will make a significant impact on the backlog, it does not take into account the many steps that Veterans Affairs is taking to make the process faster and more efficient. We're confident in the plan we put forward to tackle the backlog, and we will continue to do everything we can to address it."

Because of overhauls by two different governments, veterans have seen their system of benefits changed several times leaving behind a patchwork that has been criticized by government watchdogs and veterans themselves.

The PBO report was compiled at the request of New Democrat veterans critic Rachel Blaney and comes as the federal government faces court challenges by former soldiers affected by the backlog and the overlapping systems.

"The report clearly shows that, even if the temporary band-aid increases in resources for Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) the Liberals have announced were extended, veterans would still be waiting until 2023 for the backlog in applications to be cleared," Blaney said in a media statement.

"This is completely unacceptable. Veterans have already been waiting too long for the benefits and services they deserve."

Blaney laid the initial blame for the backlog at the feet of the former Conservative government and the party's new leader, Erin O'Toole, who was veterans minister just prior to the 2015 federal election.

She said Conservativecuts to staffing at Veterans Affairscreated a snowball effect that the Liberals have only made worse.

Senior Veterans Affairsofficials, testifying before parliamentary committees last year, presented a more nuanced picture, saying the rising number of claims was prompted by repeated overhauls to the system and more awareness of programs.