Vets' disability claims jump

Photo: Flickr/Canadian Forces

File photo.

New figures show the number of veterans waiting to find out whether they qualify for disability benefits has skyrocketed over the past eight months, leaving thousands of former military members in limbo.

Veterans Affairs Canada says there were about 29,000 applications for disability benefits in the queue at the end of November, a nearly 50 per cent increase since the end of March.

Nearly one-third of those applications have been in the queue for more than 16 weeks, also an increase since the spring — a sign wait times are continuing to grow.

Veterans Affairs Minister Seamus O'Regan admits the government needs to do better to ensure disabled veterans get the benefits they need and deserve, and says action is being taken.

That includes hiring more staff and streamlining the way Veterans Affairs reviews files to speed up processing times.

But veterans advocates say such promises have been made before and are starting to ring hollow as the problem continues to get worse.