Old Age Security (OAS) and Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS)

Decision

[1] The appeal is dismissed.

[2] The Appellant, A. J., isn’t eligible to have his Old Age Security (OAS) pension payments start before March 2023.

[3] This decision explains why I am dismissing the appeal. The decision also explains why I didn’t make a decision about the Appellant’s Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS).

Overview

[4] The Appellant applied for an OAS pension and GIS in February 2024. ^{Footnote 1} The Minister of Employment and Social Development (Minister) granted the pension, effective March 2023. ^{Footnote 2}

[5] The Minister also approved the Appellant’s GIS, effective March 2023. However, his GIS payments didn’t start until July 2024. This is because getting an OAS pension is just one of the requirements for getting the GIS. A GIS applicant must meet other requirements too. One requirement is that their income and their spouse’s income must be below a certain amount. The Minister said it could not determine the Appellant’s GIS eligibility from March 2023 to June 2024 because it didn’t have income information for him or his spouse. It would process payments for those months after it received the required information. ^{Footnote 3}

[6] The Appellant asked the Minister to reconsider the start date of the pension and GIS payments. He said he had applied in May 2022 by dropping off an application at Service Canada. He wanted his payments to start in December 2021, the month after he turned 65. ^{Footnote 4}

[7] The Minister maintained its decision about the Appellant’s OAS pension on reconsideration. ^{Footnote 5} The Appellant appealed to the General Division of the Social Security Tribunal (Tribunal).

What I must decide

[8] The only issue I can decide in this appeal is whether the Appellant’s OAS pension payments can start before March 2023.

Reasons for my decision

[9] I find that the Appellant’s OAS pension payments can’t start before March 2023.

[10] First, I will explain why I don’t have the jurisdiction (legal authority) to hear an appeal about the Appellant’s GIS. Then I will explain why his OAS pension can’t start before March 2023.

Why I can’t hear an appeal about the Appellant’s GIS

[11] To date, the Minister has not issued a reconsideration decision about when the Appellant’s GIS payments should start. This means the Tribunal doesn’t have legal authority to decide that issue.

[12] The Appellant wanted the Minister to reconsider its decision about his OAS pension and its decision about his GIS. He only gave the date of the OAS decision in his request for reconsideration. However, he checked the box that said he wanted his GIS to be reconsidered as well. ^{Footnote 6}

[13] It appears the Minister was prepared to start the Appellant’s GIS in March 2023, if he met the income requirements. This would not have satisfied the Appellant, for the same reason he disagreed with the decision about when his OAS pension should start.

[14] But there are other problems with the Appellant’s GIS.

[15] In December 2024, the Minister approved the Appellant’s GIS for the period from July 2023 to June 2024. The Appellant was to get a retroactive payment of approximately $18,000. ^{Footnote 7} However, the Appellant was then told the Minister had issued that decision by mistake. It was going to be looked at again. ^{Footnote 8} As of the hearing, the Appellant had not received this payment or an explanation.

[16] Also in December 2024, the Minister told the Appellant that it could not approve GIS payments from March 2023 to June 2023. This was because it didn’t have a signed income statement from the Appellant’s wife. ^{Footnote 9} The Appellant said he sent the statement. ^{Footnote 10} As of the hearing date, he had not heard or received anything.

[17] At a case conference in September 2025, the Minister’s representative said the Appellant’s GIS file was still under review. He said he would make more inquiries and contact the Appellant about this issue. At the hearing, the Appellant said he received one phone call from the Minister’s representative, and nothing has happened since then.

[18] I recognize how frustrating this is for the Appellant. However, the Tribunal doesn’t have legal authority to hear appeals of initial (first) decisions. If a person doesn’t agree with an initial decision, they must ask the Minister to reconsider. The Minister must then make a reconsideration decision. The Tribunal only has authority to hear appeals from reconsideration decisions. ^{Footnote 11}

[19] To date, the Minister has made two initial decisions about the Appellant’s GIS: the decision of September 12, 2024, approving payments starting in July 2024, and the decision of December 13, 2024, approving payments for July 2023 to June 2024. ^{Footnote 12}

[20] The Minister’s other letter of December 13, 2024, isn’t a decision. It tells the Appellant what he must do to have his payments processed for the March 2023 to June 2023 period. ^{Footnote 13}

[21] At the September 2025 case conference, the Minister’s representative confirmed that the Minister has not made a reconsideration decision about the Appellant’s GIS. This means I can’t decide anything about the Appellant’s GIS in this appeal.

[22] The Appellant raised similar frustration about his wife’s application for an OAS allowance. It seems to be held up somewhere. However, for the same reasons, the allowance can’t be the subject of this appeal.

Why the Appellant’s OAS payments start in March 2023

[23] The law tells me how to determine when a person is eligible for an OAS pension. I can’t change the law or ignore it. ^{Footnote 14}

[24] OAS pension payments start the monthafter the pension is approved.^{Footnote 15} The Appellant was 67 years old when he applied for his OAS pension in February 2024. When an application is received after a person turns 65, the approval takes effect on the latest of the following dates: ^{Footnote 16}

• one year before the day it was received—in this case, February 15, 2023
• the day the Appellant qualified for a pension after turning 65 and meeting the residence requirement—in this case, the Appellant met the residence requirement in July 2008 and turned 65 on November 30, 2021
• the month before the day specified in writing by the Appellant—in this case, the Appellant asked for payments to start as soon as he was eligible, which was November 30, 2021, and the month before that is October 2021

[25] The latest of these dates is February 15, 2023. That is the effective approval date. Payments start the following month, which is March 2023.

I can’t consider whether the Appellant applied in May 2022

[26] The Appellant has said many times that he applied for the OAS pension and GIS in May 2022. He put the application in a drop box at a Service Canada centre in Surrey, BC. At the time, his wife was being treated for cancer. Their lives were disrupted. He could not devote much time or energy to following up on his application. ^{Footnote 17}

[27] When his wife’s health improved, the Appellant contacted Service Canada. They told him there was no record of his application. They said he should apply again, and that everything would be worked out. As a result, the Appellant submitted another application in February 2024.

[28] The date the Minister received the application is important because payments can’t start more than 11 months before a person applied. Based on a May 2022 application, the Appellant’s pension payments could have started the month after he turned 65 in November 2021.

[29] Even if I accept that the Appellant submitted an application in May 2022, the Minister doesn’t have it. If it was received, it was lost or destroyed. This would be because of an administrative error.

[30] The Minister has authority to investigate administrative errors and fix them. ^{Footnote 18} But the Tribunal doesn’t have any authority over that process. It can’t hear appeals from decisions the Minister might make about whether to investigate, whether there has been an error, or what to do about it. ^{Footnote 19}

[31] I recognize that the Minister’s reconsideration decision told the Appellant to appeal to the Tribunal, so he did. The Appellant’s reconsideration request was based on his claim that he applied before February 2024, and the application was lost. So, it’s difficult to understand why the Minister didn’t immediately give the Appellant information about how to ask for an administrative error investigation.

[32] At the case conference, the Minister’s representative first suggested that the Appellant contact Service Canada and ask for an administrative error investigation. Then he said that someone from Service Canada would contact him the following week about this issue as well. It doesn’t appear that this issue is being resolved either. Unfortunately, as I explained above, I can’t tell the Minister to investigate. And I can’t disregard the law about when the Appellant’s OAS payments start because I think it would be fair to do so. ^{Footnote 20}

Conclusion

[33] I find that the Appellant isn’t eligible to have his OAS pension start before March 2023.

[34] This means the appeal is dismissed.