Legal - Legal Library

CPP Disability Guide

The National ME/FM Action Network is pleased to provide you with the latest edition of our Canada Pension Plan (CPP) Disability Guide.

CPP Disability Application & Appeals Guide - 2020

GUIDE DE DEMANDE ET D’APPEL POUR LES PRESTATIONS D’INVALIDITÉ DU RÉGIME DE PENSIONS DU CANADA - 2020

Here is additional material related to the  CPP-Disability program.

Government employees who review CPP-D applications are provided with documents to guide their work.

• The “Adjudication Framework” examines the criteria of “severe” and ”prolonged”, discusses the relevance of personal characteristics and socio-economic factors, and discusses what is meant by “reasonably satisfied”.    http://www.esdc.gc.ca/eng/disability/benefits/framework.shtml
• The  Fibromyalgia, Chronic Pain Syndrome, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Multiple Chemical Sensitivities Adjudication Reference Tool is not available on the government website but can be found here:  CPS CFS Adj Ref Tool
• The guidance document dealing with Non-compliance with Health Care Treatment can be found here:  http://mefmaction.com/images/stories/CPP/NoncompliancewithHealthCare.pdf

An evaluation of the CPP-Disability program was released in August 2011 and can be found here:  http://www.esdc.gc.ca/eng/publications/evaluations/income/2011/january.shtml.  The following are some of the findings.  Note that the analysis excludes Quebec which has a separate plan (QPP).

• Only about two-thirds of working-age Canadians have CPP-D coverage.
• It is hard to qualify for CPP-D, with the approval rate at the initial stage of adjudication averaging only 45%.
• In 2005, 295k Canadians were receiving CPP-D benefits .
• Despite the fact that CPP-D is supposed to be only one element of income support, 12% of CPP-D recipients in a survey said that these payment was their sole source of family income.
• The maximum CPP-D payment in 2005 was $12,123 and the average payment was $10,390.The LICO (low-income cut-off) in 2005 was $14,303 for a single person living in a rural area and $20,778 for a single person living in a large city.
• 60% of a sample of applicants that were denied CPP-D had not returned to gainful employment during a three to four year period following denial, suggesting that many people who are denied payments could be genuinely disabled and incorrectly denied coverage.
• CPP-D was not as large a disincentive to work as had been previously assumed.

Network representatives met with CPP-D program officials in January 2012. Here are notes of that meeting.
http://mefmaction.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=412&catid=69&Itemid=287