Achievements Report 2016-2017

It gives me great pleasure to present the Social Security Tribunal of Canada Achievements Report 2016-2017. The Tribunal had a very busy year in 2016-2017, with many significant achievements.

As addressed in the Achievements Report, the Tribunal is particularly proud to announce that the caseload inventory of appeals inherited from the four legacy tribunals has been all but eliminated. This is due to the perseverance, collaboration and dedication of the Tribunal’s leadership, members and staff. Other key achievements against the Tribunal’s 2016-2017 priorities include:

1. Quality and timely decisions

The Tribunal continued to ensure both the quality and timeliness of decisions by reviewing operational performance, articulating and reviewing member performance expectations, streamlining processes to support the Tribunal in meetings its service standards, improving the training program for new members, implementing a new proofreading service, and by enhancing its case management system to provide more accurate and fulsome data and performance metrics. Improved metrics collection and report automation, supports the better monitoring of caseloads and member performance. This helps the Tribunal to identify and address any problematic issue in a timely manner.

2. Improving the Tribunal's efficiency

This past year, the Tribunal engaged an independent third party to conduct a comprehensive operational review of the Tribunal. This work resulted in the development of a future sustainable costing model, confirmed resource requirement levels and member performance expectations, and identified prospective improvement opportunities. In particular, it provided an assessment of the ideal number of members necessary for the Tribunal to deliver on its mandate. The Tribunal continues to work collaboratively with all parties involved in the Governor in Council selection process to identify new potential candidates. The Tribunal also issued new streamlined appeal forms to simplify and facilitate the application process for parties, and to process cases faster and more efficiently. In addition, the Tribunal enhanced its case management system by developing new tools to support productivity; and completed an e-enablement assessment that reviewed possible options for strengthening the Tribunal’s online engagement so that it can maximize efficiency and better meet the needs of parties, representatives and stakeholders. Finally, the Tribunal conducted satisfaction surveys among its appellants, representatives, stakeholders and members to identify further improvement opportunities. Moving into 2017–2018, the Tribunal will review the results of the surveys and implement recommendations where feasible.

3. Transparency and Access to Justice

To increase transparency and improve access to justice, the Tribunal revamped its website to make it more reader-friendly through the use of plain language and to facilitate navigation. The content, layout, and structure of the new and improved website make it easier for users to locate and access most-requested forms, appeal-related information and past Tribunal decisions. The Tribunal continues to publish all Appeal Division decisions, and a comprehensive selection of General Division decisions: all of which are searchable by way of a Tribunal-specific database. The Tribunal also simplified and reduced the number of forms required for appellants to start an appeal. The Tribunal developed and published on its website a feedback form for stakeholders, parties and other Canadians to offer comments and suggestions that the Tribunal will consider in outlining future projects and priorities, and to ensure that concerns are addressed and resolved. Lastly, the Tribunal published its first achievements report, covering the years 2013 to 2016, and updated its Code of Conduct for Members, emphasizing the Tribunal’s expectations of members.  

Looking Ahead

For the remainder of 2017-2018, the Tribunal will continue work on other equally important initiatives and priorities. The Tribunal will review the results of the operational review, and the satisfaction surveys and implement improvements where viable. In addition, the Tribunal will continue to review its processes and procedures to look for productivity and timeliness improvement opportunities.

Furthermore, the Tribunal will review user metrics to measure the efficiency of the new website and it will work toward promoting increased electronic communications with parties. The Tribunal will also fully collaborate with the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development’s review of the operations of the Tribunal.

Vice-chairpersons

In August of 2017, the Minister announced the appointment of three new Vice-chairpersons to the Social Security Tribunal. These appointments come into effect October 2, 2017. I welcome the new Vice-chairpersons and look forward to building a collaborative relationship with them and continuing to build on the Tribunal’s excellence.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the current Vice-chairpersons for their hard work and dedication. The Tribunal faced numerous and difficult challenges in its infancy and without the very significant contributions of the Vice-chairpersons, the Tribunal would not have reached as many important milestones in such a short period. Finally, I want to wish them every success in the future.