With the establishment of the new Veterans Charter back in 2006, the permanent impairment allowance was a program designed to address the career impacts of severe disability on veterans. That was the fundamental policy rationale. In the legislation, the regulations define eligibility. It's for those most seriously disabled. The categories for permanent impairment allowance include veterans who have lost limbs, have become totally blind, have experienced a total loss of hearing, or have other very severe limitations.
In budget 2015, there was an amendment made to the regulations to try to broaden access to the program. There was an additional element added to the regulations covering veterans experiencing significant issues with mobility, whatever the cause, that had the effect of increasing the number of veterans able to access the program.
With budget 2016, however, there is an effort being made to address what is called the grade level distribution. Within the permanent impairment allowance program, there are three categories of eligibility, and it sets the pay scales from about $500 to $1,500. What budget 2016 has basically said is that we need to do a better job of ensuring that veterans are distributed more evenly across those three categories. Our ombudsman and various stakeholders criticized the program for limiting access to the higher financial benefits associated with PIA. It was simply the distribution. On April 1, 2018, you'll see the introduction of a new model trying to ensure improved grade level distribution across the program.