CPP Disability Benefit
To receive a CPP disability benefit, you must:
These requirements are very specific and each case must be
considered on its own. Call
your Client Service Officer for help in understanding
these requirements and how they relate to your case.
Minimum Qualifying Period (MQP)
To be eligible for a benefit, you must have made valid contributions
for a certain number of years to the Canada Pension Plan .
This is also referred to as the Minimum Qualifying Period
(MQP).
Currently, the MQP for a disability benefit is four (4) years
of valid contributions within the last six (6) years. An example
of the calculation of the MQP is shown below:
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1989
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1990
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1991
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1992
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1993
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1994
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4
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1995
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1
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3
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1996
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2
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2
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1997
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3
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1998
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4
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1
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1999
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5
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***
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2000
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6
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2001
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= years of valid contributions
*** Minimum Qualifying Period (MQP)
For example, if you have made valid contributions in
1995, 1996, 1997 and 1999, you meet the requirement
of contributions in 4 of the last 6 years. Therefore,
in this example you would last meet the contributory requirements (MQP)
in December 2000.
This date is the latest date you can be found disabled
to qualify for a disability benefit. It is important
that the additional medical information you send us
in support of your appeal proves that you were disabled on that date or prior,
and continue to be disabled.
In the above example, you are covered up until December 2000.
If you have an accident and become disabled in February 2001, your coverage
has expired and therefore you are not eligible for a disability benefit.
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The Minimum Qualifying Period for a disability benefit has
changed over the years. Therefore it is important to know
and understand your own MQP. Call
your Client Service Officer to get help in understanding
the MQP and the CPP legislation as it relates to your case.
Disability Requirement
Once you have been determined to meet the Minimum Qualifying
Period, you must prove that you have a disability which is
severe and prolonged, as defined in the CPP.
The legislation states that a disability is severe
if a person is incapable regularly of pursuing any substantially
gainful occupation as a result of the disability.
A disabling condition may be physical or mental. You must
also establish that the disability is prolonged, meaning
that it is long-term and indefinite.
Section 42 of the CPP legislation describes the disability
requirement:
"(2) When person deemed disabled.-For the purposes of
this act,
- a person shall be considered to be disabled only if he
is determined in prescribed manner to have a severe and
prolonged mental or physical disability, and for the purposes
of this paragraph,
- a disability is severe only if by reason thereof
the person in respect of whom the determination is made
is incapable regularly of pursuing any substantially
gainful occupation, and
- a disability is prolonged only if it is determined
in prescribed manner that the disability is likely to
be long, continued and of indefinite duration or is
likely to result in death; and
- a person shall be deemed to have become or to have ceased
to be disabled at such time as is determined in prescribed
manner to be the time when he became or ceased to be, as
the case may be, disabled, but in no case shall a person
be deemed to have become disabled earlier than fifteen months
before the time of the making of any application in respect
of which the determination is made."
From the Federal Court of Appeal
Villani v. Canada (Attorney General) [2001] F.C.A. 248
In this case, the Court has decided a question of law, namely
the legal test to be used for determining whether a disability
is severe within subparagraph 42(2)(a)(i)
of the Canada Pension Plan. For further details please consult
the Federal
Court of Appeal decision, Villani v. Canada.
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