Canada Pension Plan – Disability Benefits

The law may change at any time. The information below contains general information and is not a substitute for getting legal advice for your particular situation. For free legal advice, contact us at 613-632-1136 or 1-800-250-9220.

The Clinic offers free legal advice to the residents of the United Counties of Prescott and Russell who have been denied Canada Pension Plan (CPP) disability benefits.

The CPP is a benefits plan for those who have paid into the plan while working. You might be entitled to CPP disability benefits if you have enough “pension credits” (based on amounts and dates of contributions into the plan) and if you have a severe and prolonged disability.

If you qualify, your dependent children can also get benefits if they are under 18 years old, or if they are full-time students and under 25 years old.  You will have to ask for these benefits.

Application

You can have an application kit sent to you by calling Service Canada at 1-800-277-9914.  If you use a TTY device, call 1-800-255-4786. You can also download an application kit from their website at www.servicecanada.ca.

Apply for CPP disability benefits as soon as you know you have a serious disability. You might be eligible even if you apply later, but the longer you wait, the worse your chances will be.  You may end up with a smaller pension or none at all.  Contact our legal clinic for more information.

Appealing a decision

Most decisions about CPP pensions and benefits can be appealed.  If you want to contest the decision, you must first ask for a reconsideration of the decision.  The form is available at our legal clinic and is also available on Service Canada’s website by clicking on Forms and then typing in “Request for Reconsideration of a Canada Pension Plan Decision”. You must make sure that your request for a reconsideration is received by Service Canada no later than 90 days after you received the decision.  Contact us for free legal advice before sending in your reconsideration request.

If you do not agree with the reconsideration decision, you can appeal the decision to the Social Security Tribunal (SST) – General Division. You cannot appeal to the SST unless you have gone through the reconsideration process first.

On the SST website, you can find the Notice of Appeal form and information about how to start an appeal. Click on Forms, then choose Notice of Appeal – Income Security – General Division.  The appeal form is also available at our clinic.

You must make sure the SST receives your Notice of Appeal no later than 90 days after you received the reconsideration decision.  Contact our legal clinic before sending in your Notice of Appeal to receive free legal advice.

Ontario Disability Support Program

There is another disability benefit program called the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP).  For more information, visit the ODSP section of our website under “our services”.

Some people who do not qualify for CPP disability benefits can get ODSP benefits.  Also, if your CPP disability benefits are less that what you could get from ODSP, you may be able to get some benefits from ODSP to top-up your CPP disability benefits.

Contact us for free legal advice concerning your Canada Pension Plan disability benefits denial.

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