This infographic presents findings from the 2022 audit report on processing disability benefits for veterans.

Overall message

Despite recent initiatives by Veterans Affairs Canada to improve wait times, veterans were still waiting a long time to receive compensation for injuries sustained in their service to Canada.

The department’s service standard for processing an application was 16 weeks, but the median wait time was 39 weeks. For example, if the processing of an application started in the first week of January, 16 weeks would be the end of April, and 39 weeks would be the beginning of October.

How often the department met its service standard in the 2020–21 fiscal year

The department met its service standard 39% of the time and did not meet its service standard 61% of the time. The department’s service-standard target was 80% of the applications.

Median processing time for different sub-populations of veterans from 1 April 2020 to 30 September 2021

Among the 6 sub‑populations of veterans, the median application processing times were the longest for the Royal Canadian Mounted PoliceRCMP, followed by women, and then by francophones. The Canadian Armed Forces veterans had the shortest median processing time.

The median application processing time for the Canadian Armed Forces was 37 weeks, while for the RCMP, it was 51 weeks.

The median application processing time for men was 38 weeks, while for women, it was 47 weeks.

The median application processing time for anglophones was 38 weeks, while for francophones, it was 46 weeks.

Our recommendations

Veterans Affairs Canada needs a stable workforce to process disability benefits.

The department also needs to improve the quality and organization of its data to determine whether new initiatives are improving efficiency.