CPP Disability Cover Letter

CPP Disability
1

Hi David:

After reading through the step guide how to prepare your cover letter for applying CPP disability benefits. I spent some time in creating cover letter listing the history of my Chronic pain and mental health challenges after my first MVA in 2019 and than continue to work with challenges and tried everything with exposing how my symptoms and challenges comes along with it interfered with my work and daily life. I took a break in 2021 till 2022 with some part time job in between before finding a new job that is full time work from home. I continued thereafter and never applied for CPP Disability Benefits until recently in 2025 I met with really bad slip and fall accidents and it has made my symptoms aggravate from the previous injury and added the list of new symptoms and issues extreme difficult to continue in any capacity of work as with many different therapies and ongoing treatments is not improving anything for me.My question is explaining and a bit back ground of my injuries how it happened and has affected my health with symptoms and challenges in a 4 page cover letter is good enough to send with all forms to service Canada or shall I add more or cut down on my cover letter. Shall I attach my IME from MVA accident in 2019 or hold off to it to save for later if their is a reconsideration or appeal down the road.

Looking forward to your advise before I submit.

2

I followed David’s book and attached a cover letter and narrative letter. The cover letter was 1 page and listed the documents I included in my application package. The narrative letter included my personal history (age, marital status, children, education and living situation), work background, how my disability effected my work (how my disability started and got worse, effecting my work), how each symptom effected my work and why I stopped working. My narrative letter was several pages, because my case is quite complex.

I would include your complete medical file, including any specialist and IME reports that support your case.

3

Thanks for the information Sunrise really appreciate. So what I understand just a one page cover letter listing all documents attached and than create a new letter headed as whomsoever concerned at the top and describe about myself and than explaining over the years after my first car accident to the recent slip and falls accidents how it has aggravated previous symptoms and added new ones and the challenges and difficulties come along with it. My concern here is the IME reports I have is from 3-4 years ago when I got injured in MVA will it be ok to attach those IME as I currently I am planning on adding the clinic notes from my recent doctor and specialists. Also do you recommend I should attach Function Evaluation report which is from the onset of the first accident or I should not as their has to be a certain level of disability you must have to be considered for CPP disability?

Also can I upload these IME or specialist doctors charting notes to my service canada account after my file get mailed to them or shall I attach the whole stack of papers along with my complete CPP d forms and send it all at the same time ?

I am sorry if it’s too much to ask but I would rather take some more time and submit the file complete with most information possible for them to assess.

4

Yes, a one page cover letter and a separate narrative statement.

The format I used for my cover letter was like this:

(Top left) My address

Attn: Canada Pension Plan Disability Benefits, Service Canada

(on right side) DD/MM/YYYY

(in center) Subject: Application for Canada Pension Plan Disability benefits

To whom it may concern,

Please find enclosed my application for Canada Pension Plan Disability benefits.

In this package, the following documents are included:

1. This cover letter

2. form ISP-1151: application

3. Statement of (insert my name here)

4. form ISP-2502: consent for Service Canada to collect personal information

5. CPP Statement of Contributions

6. Prescription history

7. (Insert insurer’s name here) long term disability claim file

The medical report filled out by my doctor along with my complete medical file and specialist reports will be submitted shortly.

Thank you

Yours Sincerely

(Your full name here)

In your narrative statement, in addition to what I wrote in my previous post, make sure to include why you cannot work at any job in the future (not just why you stopped working).

I would include the IME report and Function Evaluation report if they show that you had symptoms that affected your ability to work after the car accident. They don’t have to show the level of impairment required to qualify for CPP-D, as the car accident is only how your condition started, and not necessarily your condition right now. It should be fine, as long as your medical report and specialist notes show that your condition has deteriorated since the car accident due to additional falls, and as a result you are unlikely to be able to do any gainful employment.

I am not sure if you can upload documents later to MSCA if you mailed in your application. Initially I was planning on submitting my entire package via MSCA but I found the website kept freezing, and there are limits to the size of the files you can upload. My files were heavy so I was unable to upload them. I would mail in the application form, cover letter, narrative statement and any other documents you have ready in the same package. You can submit additional documents later if you need more time. Your doctor will send the medical report directly to Service Canada, unless you ask your doctor to give it to you and you mail it to Service Canada by yourself.

Hope this helps

1 Like
5

Thank you so very much Sunrise this helps a lot. One other question do I attach the physiotherapy records from the previous car accidents or just the IME reports along with specialist clinical records and current medical conditions and clinical records are fine.

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You can include physiotherapy reports, and any other reports that you think are helpful.

A physiotherapy report/letter that outlines your physical disability may be helpful, but if you mean physiotherapy records that mainly show your attendance, I don’t think you need to include them.
You will have to decide if you think it supports your CPP-D application.

Do you have David’s book, The CPP Application Workbook? If you don’t have it, you may want to obtain it. To be successful, you need to tell a story of how you became disabled and why you can’t work again. For that story, you need to decide a date of onset (DOO) which must happen when you met the CPP contribution requirements. For me, it was straightforward as my DOO was my last day of work but it sounds like yours is not straightforward. Once you have figured out your DOO and your story, you will know what documents support your application.
You can buy David’s book on Amazon:

7

Little stupid question, but Just wondering that should I attach my LTD approval letter with my document list as my insurer said they don’t send the LTD file to service Canada but they will send it to me. I do not want to wait almost a month for my LTD file to be received and thinking sending a LTD approval letter along with my CPP d application and once I will receive the LTD file I will mail it to service Canada later.

Please advise !!

8

If it were me, I would write on the cover letter that you will be sending in your complete LTD file in about a month, after your insurer has sent it to you. That way, they know you are going to send it, and it also indicates that you are on LTD. So I wouldn’t bother attaching the LTD approval letter. You can do as you like. It doesn’t really matter as Service Canada won’t start reviewing your file until they receive all information (That’s when they start the count down of 120 days to process your application.)

9

Thanks a lot Sunrise :blush::+1:t2:

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Definitely worth letting them know you were approved for LTD.

I’m not sure if my experience is typical, but when a medical adjudicator called me with questions about my medical file and work history, mentioning that I was on LTD seemed to help with my eventual approval.

It might have been the way I phrased it: “I’m only applying for CPP-D because my LTD insurer is making me, and I really don’t care if I get approved or not, as my LTD insurer will get whatever you approve me for.”

As soon as I said that, her tone shifted from being skeptical of my symptoms to being extremely sympathetic to my situation. She mentioned she hadn’t looked at my LTD file yet but would do so.

11

Thanks a lot bucket.