The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) have not done enough to help hard-to-reach Canadians access the benefits they’re eligible for, says the auditor general.
In a new report issued Tuesday, Auditor General Karen Hogan found that neither the agency nor the department had a “clear and complete picture” of government benefit up-take, and as a result are “failing to improve” the lives of individuals who need the support most.
The benefits reviewed include the Canada Child Benefit (CCB), the Canada Workers Benefit (CWB), the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) and the Canada Learning Bond (CLB).
“Without a comprehensive action plan to better measure benefit take-up, to gather better information on the effectiveness of the department’s and agency’s efforts...the government will continue to struggle with reaching the populations they are targeting to raise awareness of and increase access to benefits meant to improve the lives of low income individuals and families,” Hogan’s report reads.
The auditor general says the CRA and ESDC identified Indigenous Peoples, housing insecure individuals, newcomers to Canada including refugees, people with disabilities, seniors and youth as those who often have modest incomes and face several barriers to receiving benefits.
Barriers include low literacy levels, an inability to communicate in either English or French, a reluctance to disclose personal and financial information, the requirement to file a tax return or provide additional documentation such as a social insurance number, the complexity of the application process, limited access to financial services and geographic location.
In the 2020-21 fiscal year, the government spent more than $18 million on outreach activities to increase awareness of eligible benefits for low-income Canadians but doesn’t have a sense of the funding’s impact.
While most recent estimates of take-up rates show an increase of eligible recipients accessing the CCB, GIS, CLB, and CWB over the last several years, the auditor general notes it’s not an accurate snapshot as it doesn’t account for people who didn’t file their tax return, which is a requirement to access most benefits.
The CLB has the lowest up-take rate, at 42 per cent.
Among her recommendations, Hogan is calling on the CRA, ESDC, and Statistics Canada to establish a joint “prioritization, planning, monitoring, and reporting process” to improve how they measure the reception of benefits. All three organizations agreed with the suggestion.
This is one of four reports Hogan’s office released on Tuesday.
Families, Children and Social Development of Canada Minister Karina Gould spoke to the findings later in the day, noting that improving access to benefits is a top priority for her department.
In 2020, the federal government launched Reaching All Canadians in an attempt to do exactly that. The program uses “data-driven interventions” to eliminate barriers for vulnerable populations to access supports, such as proactive mail-outs, call campaigns, language changes on application forms and partnerships with community groups.
Gould said the pandemic has made it challenging to connect face-to-face with First Nations communities specifically to ensure they are tapping into services they’re entitled to.
“That's something that we're looking to start up again to make sure that we are building that trust,” said Gould.
Hogan suggests establishing performance indicators to measure outreach programs, something both the CRA and the ESDC have committed to implement. However, the CRA noted there are limitations to this as the agency does not currently collect personal data of individuals who participate.
