Highlights — Benefit Programs and Other Services

Innovating for the Future

We are playing an increasingly important role in providing income-based benefits to Canadians. Through a number of programs, including the Canada Child Tax Benefit (CCTB), the Goods and Services Tax/Harmonized Sales Tax (GST/HST) credits, and 17 provincial and territorial benefit programs, we issue more than $11 billion annually in taxfree benefit payments to more than 10 million Canadians.

Our responsibilities are significant and the expectations of Canadians are high. Benefit recipients expect us to issue payments on time and in the right amount. Provincial and territorial partners rely on us to give the data they need to calculate social assistance. And Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC) engages us to issue rulings for the Canada Pension and Employment Insurance Programs.

As a result, we continue to look for new ways to deliver faster, more responsive and accessible service to benefit recipients, while strengthening and expanding our relationships with our provincial partners and other federal departments and agencies. Some of our initiatives for the planning period include:

• offering a new Interactive Information Service on our web site that will provide answers to common benefit enquiries;
  
  
• introducing a "My Account" Web page that will give recipients a single point of access for information about their account;
  
  
• expanding our electronic services through the Income Verification Project, which will give many of our provincial and territorial partners client information via the Internet; and
  
  
• developing a business process to exchange data with HRDC to streamline their administration of federal income security programs for seniors.

Managing Compliance

The outcome we seek in Benefit Programs and Other Services is that Canadians receive their rightful share of entitlements.

Key Volumetrics

This will involve applying the right mix of compliance and enforcement activities. We will promote voluntary compliance by:

• continuing to issue benefit payments on time;
  
  
• providing people with the tools and information they need to understand and access their entitlements; and
  
  
• improving caller accessibility for GST/HST inquiries.

We will protect the benefit programs from abuse by:

• concentrating our validation efforts on areas of highest risk so that entitled clients get the right amount — no more, no less; and
  
  
• using more sophisticated risk management approaches and computer-based profiling tools to better target high-risk clients.

Another priority is ensuring that our staff has the tools and skills they need to achieve our standards for timeliness, accuracy, and client accessibility.

The following table identifies the anticipated results and success criteria that have been developed, and which will guide the Benefit Programs and Other Services business line over the planning period.

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