Mr. Speaker, Veterans Affairs Canada provides case management services to support veterans facing complex challenges. It is a collaborative process between the client and the case management team to identify needs, set goals, and create a plan to help clients achieve their highest level of independence, health and well-being.
In response to (a), regarding how many caseworkers have (i) reported that their job has had a negative impact on their mental health, (ii) taken leave or days off related to stress or mental health concerns, while taking sick leave, employees do not need to stipulate the reasons for their absence. This data is not captured at Veterans Affairs Canada in order to protect employees’ privacy.
In response to (b), regarding the turnover rate for caseworkers broken down by month, the turnover rates are available by year, not by month. In 2019-20, the turnover rate was 12.8%, and in 2020-21, the turnover rate was 9.1%. For field operations employees, the average yearly turnover rate is 10%. For all Veterans Affairs Canada indeterminate positions, the average yearly turnover rate is 7.1%.
In response to (c), regarding what specific action the ministry has done to support the mental health of their caseworkers, Veterans Affairs Canada has increased its focus on employee wellness through local and national wellness committees as well as providing mental health training. Veterans Affairs Canada is implementing the case management renewal initiative until March 2022, which will create a more balanced delivery model and improve its processes and work tools to reduce the administrative burden for front-line staff. Veterans Affairs Canada implemented a new screening tool and a new case management assessment form, which improves case managers’ ability to identify veterans’ levels of risk, needs and complexities. Veterans Affairs Canada has improved its staffing and onboarding processes to accelerate and facilitate the recruitment of case managers, hiring additional case managers to improve the capacity to serve veterans. Veterans Affairs Canada is committed to continue hiring additional case managers, and to improve case management services to the benefit of both the veterans and the case managers.
In response to (d), regarding how many and what percentage of caseworkers are currently responsible for more than the standard of 30 veterans per caseworker, as of December 13, 2021, 70% of case managers have a caseload of more than 30 veterans, with the average caseload per case manager being 32.
In response to (e), regarding what the minister's specific goals are with regard to lowering the number of veterans per casework, including the specific targets as of July 1, 2022, and January 1, 2023, Veterans Affairs Canada remains committed to delivering high-quality case management services for veterans. Case management is a unique service that is based on the needs of each veteran. This means improving the overall approach is more than the case manager-to-veteran ratio.
Veterans Affairs Canada continues to improve tools and processes for staff to reduce the administrative burden and increase the time that case managers can spend directly with veterans.
While in the recent evaluation of case management service survey conducted in 2019, 92% of case managers responded that they were able to handle a caseload of more than 25 cases, Veterans Affairs Canada remains committed to achieving the 25:1 case manager-to-veteran published standard. As case management is based on need, and given the significant increase in veterans who require case management, Veterans Affairs Canada continues to work to improve and evaluate case management ratios.