Program directory · Employment and Social Development Canada
Old Age Security
- Department
- Employment and Social Development Canada
- Program code
- BGN01 (HRSD)
- Core responsibility
- Pensions and Benefits
- In Departmental Plans
- 2018-19 – 2026-27 · New since an earlier plan
What it does
The Old Age Security (OAS) program is the first pillar of Canada’s retirement income system. Its objective is to ensure a minimum income for seniors and contribute to their income replacement in retirement. The program includes three benefits: the OAS pension, the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS), and the Allowances. The OAS pension is a monthly payment to all Canadians aged 65 or older who meet the residence and legal status requirements. The GIS provides additional assistance to OAS pensioners with little or no income. The Allowances provide benefits to low-income 60- to 64-year-old individuals who are either the spouse or common-law partner of a GIS recipient (the Allowance), or who are a widow/widower (the Allowance for the Survivor). The GIS and Allowances are income-tested to ensure that the highest benefits are paid to the lowest-income seniors.
Source: the department's Program Inventory, via GC InfoBase.
History and lineage
First appears in GC InfoBase's actual spending by program in 2018-19. The data does not record when a program was created; it may be older than its first appearance here, which is limited by the sources (program spending starts in 2010-11, Departmental Plans in 2018-19).
| Program | Relation | Years with data | Actual spending over those years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Old Age Security | This program | 2018-19 – 2028-29 | $462B |
No earlier or later program in the same department has a similar name.
Significant changes in scope and budget
Detected from the data: renames between plans, programs it appears to replace, merge with or split into (matched by name), year-over-year changes in spending of at least 25% and $5M, or in employees of at least 20% and 25 FTEs, linked budget measures, and results indicators added or dropped.
| Year | What changed | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2019-20 | Indicators added: Percentage of seniors with an annual income above the Market Basket Measure (MBM).; Percentage of GIS recipients above the Market Basket Measure | Departmental Results Framework (GC InfoBase) |
| 2019-20 | Indicators dropped: Percentage of Guaranteed Income Supplement recipients above the Low-Income Cut-Off; Percentage of seniors receiving the Guaranteed Income Supplement in relation to the total number of eligible seniors; Percentage of seniors receiving the Old Age Security pension in relation to the total number of eligible seniors; Percentage of seniors with an annual income above the Low-Income Cut-Off | Departmental Results Framework (GC InfoBase) |
| 2020-21 | Indicators added: Percentage of in-pay clients who are satisfied with their OAS service experience of applying for or being automatically enrolled for program benefits. | Departmental Results Framework (GC InfoBase) |
| 2020-21 | Indicators dropped: Percentage of seniors with an annual income above the Market Basket Measure (MBM).; Percentage of GIS recipients above the Market Basket Measure | Departmental Results Framework (GC InfoBase) |
| 2022-23 | Indicators added: Percentage of seniors with an annual income above the Market Basket Measure (MBM). | Departmental Results Framework (GC InfoBase) |
| 2022-23 | Indicators dropped: Percentage of in-pay clients who are satisfied with their OAS service experience of applying for or being automatically enrolled for program benefits. | Departmental Results Framework (GC InfoBase) |
| 2023 | Budget 2023 measure “Old Age Security IT Modernization”: $93M in total over its years (linked to this program by name, a best-effort match). | Budget 2023, PDF page 204 |
| 2025 | Budget 2025 measure “Supporting the Old Age Security Program”: $564M in total over its years (linked to this program by name, a best-effort match). | Budget 2025, PDF page 286 |
| 2026-27 | Indicators added: Percentage of seniors receiving the OAS pension at age 70 and over, in relation to the estimated total number of eligible seniors aged 70 and over (OAS pension take-up rate 70+) | Departmental Results Framework (GC InfoBase) |
| 2026-27 | Indicators dropped: Percentage of seniors with an annual income above the Market Basket Measure (MBM). | Departmental Results Framework (GC InfoBase) |
| 2028-29 | Planned employees (FTEs) 1,573, against 3,176 in 2027-28 (−50%). | FTEs (GC InfoBase) |
Success criteria
The program's indicators from its department's Departmental Results Framework: the target set in each year's plan, and the result reported the following year. Source: GC InfoBase.
Historical: targets against results
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-20 | ≥ 95% | 2020 | 97% Actual result is based on data for 2018 from the Canadian Income Survey (CIS). Data is available by calendar year. There is a two-year lag in availability of data from the CIS. | Met |
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-21 | ≥ 80% | 2021 | 88% Result from the 2019-2020 Client Experience Survey. To obtain additional information please refer to the 2019-2020 Client Experience Survey published on publications.gc.ca. (https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2020/edsc-esdc/Em4-23-2020-eng.pdf) | Met |
| 2021-22 | ≥ 80% | 2022 | — Results of the 2021 Client Experience Survey will be released in Fall 2022. | No result reported |
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-20 | ≥ 89% | 2020 | 93% Actual result is based on data for 2018 from the Canadian Income Survey (CIS). Data is available by calendar year. There is a two-year lag in availability of data from the CIS. | Met |
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | ≥ 90% | 2019 | 91% | Met |
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | ≥ 98% | 2019 | 97% Since July 2013, individuals may defer receipt of their OAS pension for up to five years, in exchange of a higher pension, which may explain not meeting the 98% target. | Not met |
Current: the 2026-27 plan's targets
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-27 | ≥ 97% | 2027 | — | Planned |
Future goals: targets due after 2026-27
No targets with a later due date.
Spending and employees: planned against actual
Spending
Show the numbers
| Fiscal year | Planned | Actual |
|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | $53.9B | $53.6B |
| 2019-20 | $56.4B | $56.5B |
| 2020-21 | $59.8B | $61.4B |
| 2021-22 | $62.6B | $62.8B |
| 2022-23 | $69.4B | $70.6B |
| 2023-24 | $77.1B | $76.7B |
| 2024-25 | $81.6B | $80.8B |
| 2025-26 | $85.9B | — |
| 2026-27 | $89.2B | — |
| 2027-28 | $94.9B* | — |
| 2028-29 | $99.6B* | — |
Employees (FTEs)
Show the numbers
| Fiscal year | Planned | Actual |
|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | 2,232 | 2,695 |
| 2019-20 | 1,871 | 2,854 |
| 2020-21 | 2,465 | 2,968 |
| 2021-22 | 2,666 | 3,205 |
| 2022-23 | 2,825 | 3,679 |
| 2023-24 | 3,767 | 3,852 |
| 2024-25 | 3,829 | 4,483 |
| 2025-26 | 3,627 | — |
| 2026-27 | 3,124 | — |
| 2027-28 | 3,176* | — |
| 2028-29 | 1,573* | — |
Planned spending, plan by plan
Each row is one year's Departmental Plan and its forecast for the next three fiscal years; read a column down to see how the forecast for one year changed. The last row is what was actually spent. Click an amount for its source. Biggest changes in federal spending plans
| Plan | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | 2025-26 | 2026-27 | 2027-28 | 2028-29 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 plan | $53,871,552,913 | $56,900,369,126 | $60,238,598,268 | ||||||||
| 2019-20 plan | $56,376,557,685 | $59,839,672,188 | $63,435,632,363 | ||||||||
| 2020-21 plan | $59,765,680,826 | $63,270,986,363 | $66,808,491,716 | ||||||||
| 2021-22 plan | $62,636,529,710 | $66,013,471,606 | $69,613,053,976 | ||||||||
| 2022-23 plan | $69,400,067,067 | $73,295,291,076 | $77,561,257,807 | ||||||||
| 2023-24 plan | $77,052,077,983 | $81,972,447,600 | $86,842,576,604 | ||||||||
| 2024-25 plan | $81,584,219,815 | $86,465,675,591 | $91,590,537,181 | ||||||||
| 2025-26 plan | $85,937,279,398 | $90,444,170,967 | $94,956,974,488 | ||||||||
| 2026-27 plan | $89,217,208,801 | $94,864,359,899 | $99,598,293,223 | ||||||||
| Actual | $53,639,567,170 | $56,545,113,473 | $61,421,594,724 | $62,793,990,287 | $70,562,235,633 | $76,684,984,862 | $80,762,279,357 |
Actual spending is from Departmental Results Reports and the Public Accounts, as published in GC InfoBase. FTEs are full-time equivalents.
