CFOB Newsletters
September 2019 Edition
New Emergency Salary Advance/Salary Priority Payment process
Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) is focused on supporting our employees who are affected by ongoing Phoenix-related pay irregularities. To ensure that employees do not go without pay, emergency payments are available to assist individuals who are experiencing financial hardship as a result of outstanding pay issues
As of May 27, 2019, ESDC has introduced a new process to issue and recover Emergency Salary Advances and Salary Priority Payments (ESA/SPP) that provides for greater control and increased flexibility.
When is an ESA/SPP granted?
An ESA or SPP is granted in certain circumstances when a regular salary payment is not available. To learn more about these circumstances, and/or make a request for an ESA/SPP, please consult ESDC's Compensation Glossary - Emergency Salary Advance page.
What is changing?
An updated form will be included in the ESA/SPP steps (under "Paperwork required"). On this new form, employees will now be able to indicate their preferred repayment method at the time the request for replacement funds is completed. Namely:
- By cheque; or
- Payroll deduction (further details on this option are available on the Compensation Glossary - Emergency Salary Advance page).
On the same form, employees will now be able to select the repayment conditions that determine when recoveries will begin. Employees will have two options:
- Repayment will start once the missing payment is made to the employee;
- Repayment will start once the following three conditions are met:
- Missing payment is made, and
- All outstanding pay actions on the account have been addressed, and
- The employee has received three consecutive correct payments.
In the instance where an employee has requested multiple ESAs/SPPs, the repayment conditions and methods identified by the employee on the most recent request form will be referenced to initiate repayment. In all circumstances, the employee will be notified that their repayment conditions have been met, and when repayments will begin.
For questions regarding the new ESA/SPP process, please contact the Chief Financial Officer Branch via the National Accounting Operations - Priority Payment Request Service page. To obtain further details on ESA/SPP, such as qualification criteria, please visit ESDC's Emergency Salary Advance page.
Reminder: Timeline for approval of a file related to THCEE, including international travels
We would like to remind you of the timelines required for approval of files related to Travel, Hospitality, Conferences and Events Expenditures (THCEE) that require approval.
We have had a busy year and together we have accomplished a great deal with often very little time to do so. We note that the number of files that have come to our office as "urgent" is consistently very high over the last year (62% of THCEE files and 79% of international travel files). We also note that some files are received for approval after-the-fact, therefore, the expenses are committed without approval, meaning without authority to do so. These many urgent files increase the workload for many of the staff within my branch and within your own. Reducing the number of urgent files they work on will help alleviate pressure.
We therefore request your support with regards to preparing your files in advance for approval and reducing last minute requests.
It is very important for us to provide you with quality service and in order to do so, our employees need a reasonable amount of time to properly perform their duties of reviewing and certifying the compliance of your files. You will find in the table below a reminder of the required timelines. Please share this message with your staff to ensure that these deadlines are respected as much as possible.
| Level of approval required | Your file should be received by CFOB |
|---|---|
| Minister's approval | At least 8 weeks prior to any booking |
| Deputy Minister's approval | At least 6 weeks prior to any booking |
| CFO's approval | At least 4 to 6 weeks prior to any booking |
Consult the "Conference Decision Tree (PDF, 238 KB)" to determine the required approval and if your participation in a conference is considered an event, an operational activity or a training activity.
Service Standard
Financial policy team has a service standard of 5 business days to provide any advice/recommendation and to perform reviews (or pre-reviews) and attestations of compliance for THCEE files. The team usually responds to questions received in the generic mailbox within 2 days, but may take 5 business days depending on workload or complexity.
In exceptional circumstances, when unforeseen THCEE requests arise, the team will make all efforts to assist and complete the file in time, but not at the cost of due diligence.
CFOB Service Standards – Internal Review and Q1 Results
The Chief Financial Officer Branch (CFOB) began reporting on service standards in 2017 to provide clear expected timelines for responses, acknowledgements and resolutions to client requests. At the beginning of the 2019 – 2020 fiscal year, CFOB conducted an internal review of its service standards to ensure they remained measurable and relevant.
We are happy to share the first quarter (Q1) results for this fiscal year. All service standards begin when all relevant documentation and approvals have been received by CFOB.
Below are a few interesting highlights from this quarter:
- There has been a 39% decrease in the number of DARS - SIN Change requests since Q4 of FY 18-19. In Q1 of FY 19-20, 89% of the SIN change requests were completed within 10 business days of receipt of all required documentation and approvals.
- Q1 of FY 19-20 has seen the largest volume of Blanket Acting Designation Memorandum (BADM) Activation requests received in a quarter since CFOB began tracking its service standards, all while maintaining a 100% service standard rate.
- Since Q4 of FY 18-19, there has been a 57% reduction in the number of ESDC Procurement - Amendments (where ESDC is the contracting authority). 95% of Q1 contract amendments were completed within 14 calendar days of receipt of all required documentation and approvals.
- A 92% service standard was achieved for Project Management Information Solution general requests that were sent to the Enterprise Project Management Office (EPMO) Mailbox and handled at Tier 1 level within 2 business days; however, the volume of requests in Q1 was lower than any previous quarter from the past two fiscal years.
- The number of systems access requests for DARS, SPS and IRIS has increased by approximately 19% since Q4 of FY 18-19; 95% of these requests were completed within 5 business days of receipt of all required documentation and approvals.
To carry forward the great work that was accomplished in the internal review of the service standards, CFOB is planning to conduct a review with our clients later this fiscal year.