Program directory · Employment and Social Development Canada
Canadian Digital Service
- Department
- Employment and Social Development Canada
- Program code
- BGQ06 (HRSD)
- Core responsibility
- Information Delivery and Services for Other Departments
- In Departmental Plans
- 2023-24 – 2026-27 · New since an earlier plan
What it does
The mandate of the Canadian Digital Service (CDS) is to support federal departments and agencies in improving the design and delivery of services to the public. It does so by: (i) developing and maintaining composable self-serve products that address common service interaction points with the public, (ii) providing digital expertise to individual service improvement initiatives, (iii) providing enterprise digital credentials products that make it simpler to access government services and (iv) improving the experience of the public on Canada.ca.
Source: the department's Program Inventory, via GC InfoBase.
History and lineage
First appears in GC InfoBase's actual spending by program in 2023-24. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canadian Digital Service | This program | 2023-24 – 2028-29 | $48.9M |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | Spending $31.4M, against $17.5M in 2023-24 (+79%). | Actual spending (GC InfoBase) |
| 2025-26 | Indicators added: Average sign-in task success rate; Growth in the number of partner organizations onboarded into enterprise platforms; Percentage increase of composable product transactions; Percentage of partner organizations who report that they are satisfied with the practical support delivered by CDS | Departmental Results Framework (GC InfoBase) |
| 2025-26 | Indicators dropped: 1. Percentage of partners who report that they are satisfied with the hands on help delivered by CDS 2. Percentage of partners who report that help delivered by CDS is relevant to their work and needs; Percentage increase of platform product transactions | Departmental Results Framework (GC InfoBase) |
| 2026-27 | Planned spending $58.1M, against $35.2M in 2025-26 (+65%). | Latest Departmental Plan |
| 2027-28 | Planned employees (FTEs) 124, against 173 in 2026-27 (−28%). | 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
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | TBD | 2025 | a.) 100% of client departments reported an improvement to their digital services b.) 86.7% of client department reported an acceleration in project delivery. a.) Of the client departments who responded, 100% reported an improvement to their digital services. b.) Of the client departments who responded, 86.7% reported an acceleration in project delivery. | No result reported |
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | TBD | 2025 | 1. 90% partners reported satisfied with CDS services 2. 96.7% partners reported CDS’ work met their needs | No result reported |
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | TBD | 2025 | GCNotify: 52% increase GCForms: 387% increase GCDesign System: Not applicable. In 2024–25, GC Notify delivered 706 services, up 52% from 464 services the previous year. GC Forms delivered 1,866 services, a significant increase of 387% from 383 services the previous year. The GC Design System launched in fiscal year 2024-2025 delivered 10 services in total. This figure will become the baseline for next fiscal year. | No result reported |
Current: the 2026-27 plan's targets
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-27 | ≥ 70% | 2027 | — | Planned |
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-27 | Not available | 2027 | — | Planned |
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-27 | ≥ 20% | 2027 | — | Planned |
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-27 | ≥ 80% | 2027 | — | Planned |
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-27 | ≥ 80% | 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2023-24 | $0 | $17.5M |
| 2024-25 | $23.6M | $31.4M |
| 2025-26 | $35.2M | — |
| 2026-27 | $58.1M | — |
| 2027-28 | $47.6M* | — |
| 2028-29 | $46.8M* | — |
Employees (FTEs)
Show the numbers
| Fiscal year | Planned | Actual |
|---|---|---|
| 2023-24 | 0 | — |
| 2024-25 | 119 | 166 |
| 2025-26 | 163 | — |
| 2026-27 | 173 | — |
| 2027-28 | 124* | — |
| 2028-29 | 124* | — |
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 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | 2025-26 | 2026-27 | 2027-28 | 2028-29 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-24 plan | $0 | $0 | $0 | |||
| 2024-25 plan | $23,570,329 | $23,782,242 | $23,794,932 | |||
| 2025-26 plan | $35,214,266 | $33,519,346 | $23,238,725 | |||
| 2026-27 plan | $58,055,146 | $47,605,348 | $46,751,601 | |||
| Actual | $17,515,451 | $31,419,676 |
Actual spending is from Departmental Results Reports and the Public Accounts, as published in GC InfoBase. FTEs are full-time equivalents.
