Improving services for low-income seniors
Government of Canada improving service delivery for low-income seniors by expanding the scope of automatic enrolment for the Guaranteed Income Supplement
GATINEAU, QC, Jan. 9, 2018 /CNW/ - In keeping with his commitment to improve delivery of programs and services for all Canadians, the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, announced today the launch of automatic enrolment for the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) benefit.
Implementing GIS automatic enrolment means that each month, up to 17,000 seniors who turn 64 years old on or after December 1, 2017, will be selected to be automatically enrolled for the GIS benefit without ever having to complete an application. Beginning in January 2018, these seniors will receive a letter notifying them that they will be enrolled for both Old Age Security (OAS) and GIS without needing to apply and will begin receiving their benefits automatically, if eligible, when they turn 65. The first payment will be made one month after the client turns 65.
Once automatically enrolled for OAS benefits, recipients will be automatically considered for the GIS each year based on their household income information included in their tax filing. It is important that tax returns are filed on time each year in order to receive or maintain these benefits.
GIS automatic enrolment is a key component of Employment and Social Development Canada's Service Strategy, which aims to transform services in a way that responds to clients' current and emerging needs and expectations.
As part of a wider effort to increase awareness of the GIS, Minister Duclos had committed to introduce automatic enrolment for GIS by January 2018. Building on previous phases of automatic enrolment for OAS, GIS automatic enrolment will not only contribute to ensuring Canadian seniors receive services and benefits that are easy to access, convenient and timely, it will also play an important role in helping reduce the incidence of low income among seniors.
Quote
"Automatic enrolment reduces the burden on many seniors by enabling them to receive their Old Age Security pension and Guaranteed Income Supplement at age 65 without ever having to apply for it. We continue our efforts to modernize the Old Age Security and Guaranteed Income Supplement services to meet the needs of Canadians."
– The Honourable Jean Yves Duclos, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development
Quick Facts
• The objective of the OAS program is to ensure a minimum income for seniors and help reduce the incidence of low income among Canada's seniors. OAS benefits include the basic pension, which is paid to all individuals aged 65 and older who meet the residence requirements, and the GIS for low-income seniors.
• Seniors who receive the Canada Pension Plan benefits by direct deposit will receive their combined OAS and GIS payments into the same account. Clients who receive the Quebec Pension Plan (QPP) or who do not have direct deposit will receive their payments via paper cheque.
• GIS automatic enrolment is the latest service improvement for the OAS program, building on previous phases of automatic enrolment which focused on the OAS pension in March 2013 and November 2016.
• Service Canada also recently released an OAS Program Toolkit, making it easier for advocates and support groups to help seniors become aware of and obtain their OAS pension and other related benefits.
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Backgrounder: Old Age Security (OAS) automatic enrolment
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Guaranteed Income Supplement
Old Age Security Program Toolkit
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Backgrounder
Automatic Enrolment
The first phase of Old Age Security (OAS) automatic enrolment was successfully implemented in April 2013 and resulted in automatically enrolling 45 percent of new OAS beneficiaries to receive the basic pension. Information from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) was leveraged to identify clients who would be automatically enrolled for the second phase, which launched in November 2016. This resulted in an increase in the number of clients who were automatically enrolled to over 60 percent of new OAS beneficiaries. The month after turning 64 years old, these clients receive a letter from Service Canada informing them that they could be eligible for the OAS pension and that they have been selected for automatic enrolment.
Automatic enrolment has been expanded to include the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS). Using the Canada Revenue Agency tax data, the Department will introduce the automatic enrollment for GIS for pensioners who are automatically enrolled for the OAS basic pension. Implementing GIS automatic enrolment means that each month, up to 17,000 seniors who turn 64 years old on or after December 1, 2017, will be selected to be automatically enrolled for the GIS benefit by leveraging existing data from the CRA and within the Department.
Employment and Social Development Canada Service Strategy
Through the Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) Service Strategy, the Department is moving to adopt world-class service delivery models enabled by modern technologies to provide more services online and deliver services in a way that responds to its clients' current and emerging needs.
This strategy outlines a department-wide vision for improved services and will contribute to government-wide advancements in service delivery across all programs and services.
The implementation of the ESDC Service Strategy will evolve over time to confront new challenges and learn from best practices. The strategy is an evolution of Service Canada Vision 2020 and serves to support recent Government-wide direction provided in the Treasury Board Policy on Service.
Automatic enrolment is part of the OAS Service Improvement Strategy. This is the Department's plan to modernize the delivery of the OAS program by improving services to eligible Canadian seniors, including low-income individuals, while also generating efficiencies in the processing of OAS/GIS benefits.
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CNW group 1/9/2018 |
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